Peace Olatunji

President Bola Tinubu has signed into law a bill seeking a 300% increase in salaries and allowances for judicial officials.

This was disclosed in a statement on Tuesday (13th August, 2024) in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado.

Speaking on the issue, public affairs analyst, Engineer Jacob Omotayo, while featuring on Wednesday’s episode of the Diamond Breakfast Show made his stance known as he stressed on the impact of salary disparity on the citizens of Nigeria.

He stated that “It can create a widened income gap which can lead to frustration”.

“It creates economic instability because wealth is concentrated in the hands of some class of people”, he added.

Engr. Omotayo further emphasized on the consequences of creating disparity on citizens. “This is the way by which government themselves increase poverty because you create a disparity, you create a social circle, you create a circle within circles”, he stated.

Meanwhile, the national Chairman of Social Democratic party (SDP), Alhaji Schedule Gabam, has urged President Tinubu to standardize and unify the salaries of all civil servants.

In regard to this, Engineer Omotayo stated that everybody’s role is unique, and the allowances should be different.

However, he also stated that ” there is danger in creating terrible disparity, when you create, you are widening the gap. You are creating a social imbalance where you begin to segregate and classify. “In my own view, it is simply appetite. It is not correct”, he added.

According to Engr. Omotayo, ” Any short time from now, you’ll keep seeing agitations. This (disparity) is a can of worm that will begin to unfold itself in a short time from now and the ripple effect is probably what we are going to see next.”

Edited by Abiodun AKINWUMI & Joseph EMERIBE