The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has been charged to mobilize the Nigerian work force for a total strike should National Assembly failed to drop the idea of life pension for public officers.

The Muslim Right Concern (MURIC) in a statement in Ibadan on Tuesday rejected the proposal to put the President of Senate and his deputy,the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his deputy as well as all past presidents and speakers on life pension, adding that the time has come for the masses to take their destiny in their hands. MURIC’s director, Professor

Ishaq Akintola, noted that the beneficiaries of this largesse allegedly include the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his vice as well as all past holders of those two exalted offices.

Warning that the proposal was horrendous, preposterous and gluttonous, it said that coming at a time when the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Okonjo Iweala, was warning that the Federal Government might no longer be able to pay salaries as from October 2013, it added that the approval by the honourable members in the Upper and Lower Houses was, to say the least, callous, self-serving and insensitive.

Nigerian leaders tend to have a penchant for waste. ”With more than 80 per cent of the Nigerian population living below poverty level, with the average Nigerian living on less than $1 per day and Nigeria’s per capita income less than $300,how on earth can anyone justify the arrogation of such stupendous luxury to so few? “The scenario in this country is getting inextricably deeper into the abyss of capitalist bourgeoisie mentality. This development in the National Assembly further cements the hypothesis that 1 per cent of the Nigerian population is consuming 85 per cent of the wealth of this nation leaving just 15per cent for the vast majority of 99% of the population,” MURIC said. According to it,  It is a clear demonstration of man’s inhumanity to man, as the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

MURIC which queried the rational behoind the proposal wondered how can the National Assembly do such it refuses to approve a token sum of N20,000.00 as monthly relief package for unemployed graduates. “How can the NASS do this when N18,000.00 minimum wage has not been approved or paid to most workers in the country? The yearly budgetary allocation to education has always been between 3per cent and 13per cent falling criminally short of the 20 per cent recommended by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  “Consequently the quality of education continues on a

downward slide. That is why lecturers are on strike yet the Federal Government is dillydallying on an agreement it freely entered into with ASUU four years back. How can we trust a government that reneges on its pledges, a government to whom 16 is higher than 19 and 5 superior to 22? Worst still, how can we now trust any pledge in the 2015-related manifesto?,” it added.