The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called on the Federal Government to rescind its decision to reduce workers’ salaries through obnoxious increment in Pay As You Earn, pension and National Housing Fund deductions.
According to him, with the deductions, some workers now have as much as 30 per cent reduction in salaries.
The governor said it was wicked and inhuman for any government to increase taxes on workers’ salaries at this period of economic recession when the “workers take-home pay can no longer take them home.”
“The Federal Government should stop believing that the only way it can take Nigeria out of recession is to impose obnoxious taxes that will further impoverish the people,” he warned.
Fayose, in a press release issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, advised against increasing taxes that would reduce what workers earn when “government does not have the capacity to increase workers’ salaries at this trying period.”
The governor said it appeared that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress’ Federal Government’s desire was to kill Nigerians with obnoxious taxes.
He said, “As a military Head of State, Buhari used force to deal with Nigerians, now as a civilian President, he is using economic recession to punish Nigerians and adding insult to injury by using inhuman taxes to reduce workers’ salaries.
“Buhari’s government increased petrol prices from N87 to N145 per litre, kerosene; diesel and gas price were increased, electricity tariff was increased, N50 stamp duty was imposed on bank customers, N65 levy was imposed on every withdrawal on ATM, various bank charges introduced, custom duties increased and now workers’ PAYE tax has been increased.
“I sympathise with the Federal Government’s workers who only got to know about reduction of their salaries when they got credit alert last month, but they should remember that I warned them.
“Workers are already facing hardships owing to the economic recession, which has caused exchange rate to rise to as much as N480 to $1. The implication of this is that the purchasing power of a worker that is earning say N100,000 per month has reduced to less than N50,000 per month, meaning that what such a worker bought at N10,000 this time last year is now at N25,000.”
