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Tag: minimum wage

  • Showdown looms over minimum wage

    Showdown looms over minimum wage

    Citing sharp decline in national revenue triggered by fall in oil prices, some governors have threatened to stop paying the N18, 000 minimum wage or retrench workers. But organised labour has dismissed the threat as a joke. To labour, it is a ploy to frustrate negotiation for upward review of the national minimum wage as required by law. Already, labour is mobilising its affiliates for a showdown, should the governors make good their threat. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State is known for his fierce rejection of injustice and an outstanding resolve to stand up to it. He demonstrated this attribute during his days in the labour movement where he was former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). So, when the comrade governor, as Oshiomhole is popularly called, recently announced his readiness to lead a protest to force some state governors to back down on their threat to reduce the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage or embark on massive retrenchment of workers, not a few Nigerians took him serious.

    To Nigerians, especially workers, Oshiomhole’s readiness to personally lead the battle against his governor colleagues whom he said have the capacity to pay the N18, 000 minimum wage, it was clear signal that indeed, a major showdown is imminent. The labour leader hinted this much when he said: “it is clear from all indicators that 2016 is likely to be very tough with the continued decline in revenue and rising expectation on the part of our people and with many state governments, local governments, and perhaps, even some federal agencies defaulting in the payment of salaries and allowances. The level of strike activities in the economy is going to be very high…”

    He spoke penultimate week in Benin, the Edo State capital, during a meeting with traditional rulers from Edo Central Senatorial district. In an apparent reference to the governors’ threat to lay off workers, he said the level of unemployment in the country is already unacceptably high, warning that “it could get even higher if we are not careful.” While pointing out that Edo State has been trying to ensure it sustains the tradition of meeting her wage obligation because the consequences of not doing so are huge, he reiterated the fact that the welfare of the people remains the main business of state governors hence they should be able to pay the N18,000 minimum wage.

    Sometime last year, some state governors touched the raw nerves of workers when they announced that they would no longer pay the N18, 000 minimum wage in view of the sharp decline in revenue caused by falling oil prices. The governors, under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), had after their meeting in Abuja, stated that the N18, 000 minimum wage was imposed on them when oil sold for $126 as against the price of $41 per barrel. This was the price at the time the governors pushed the argument. Oil price hit an all time low of $32.66 per barrel last week, the lowest since 2002.

    The NGF’s statement, conveyed by its Chairman, Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State, said: “The situation is no longer the same compared to when we were asked to pay N18, 000 minimum wage, when oil price was $126 per barrel and continued paying N18, 000 minimum wage when the oil is $41, and the source of government expenditure is oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil industry in the near future.” He said the way out of the situation was the diversification of the economy with attention to agriculture and mining.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State was more direct when he stated that there was no way the country could continue with a situation where expenditure was more than income. He inadvertently drew the battle line between the governors and labour when he said, “We are faced with a situation where we either have to reduce cost through salary reduction or downsize. All these we don’t want to do but prefer to have a roundtable with the President, ministers and economists to look for means of getting out of this problem.”

     

    Labour threatens fire and brimstone

     

    However, if Ajimobi and his colleagues expected to get labour’s understanding, they were wrong. Labour would hear nothing of either reducing cost through salary reduction or downsizing. And by the time the labour movement comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its various affiliates started taking turns to condemn and call the governors’ bluff, it became clear that the options dangled before them failed to hit the right chord.

    For instance, as far as NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba is concerned, the governors’ threat was mere ploy to frustrate the demand for an upward review of the N18, 000 minimum wage. Wabba has at various fora, stated that the five- year period stipulated for the review of the minimum wage had lapsed, hence NLC is working in collaboration with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to arrive at a new minimum wage to be presented to government.

    For instance, at a recent courtesy call by the NLC to Senate President Bukola Saraki, in Abuja, Wabba said NLC will submit a new minimum wage to the National Assembly (NASS), as N18, 000 minimum wage is no longer reasonable because of the current economic reality. He recalled that the last time the Minimum Wage Act was propagated by NASS was in 2011 and is due for evaluation.

    Wabba’s words: “The five-year circle during which the National Minimum Wage is due for review is here. The devaluation of the naira from N150 to $1 to about 242 to $1 today underscores the grim situation for salary earners in the country, against the fact that our economy is import driven.

    “The devaluation in simple economic terms means that the purchasing power of the ordinary Nigerian wage earner is grossly devalued. As a result, Congress will soon submit a New Minimum Wage demand, which we hope will be negotiated by the tripartite negotiating team.”

    The National Minimum Wage Act was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 after both houses of the National Assembly passed it into law, with a proviso for it to be reviewed upwards after five years. Wabba said NLC hopes that when the end product of negotiation for a review is brought before NASS for legislation, it will be treated with dispatch.

    The NLC President vowed to make the states ungovernable for any governor that tinker with the current minimum wage. “We will ensure that any governor that tries to reduce the N18, 000 minimum wage will not have rest in his domain until the right thing is done. Reducing the minimum wage is something that cannot be defended,” he threatened.

    Although, Wabba admitted the challenges in the economy, he said this does not mean that only the workers should suffer the consequence. He pointed out that if political office holders still collect the same salaries nationwide, there is no justification for anybody to think of tinkering with the minimum wage.

    But as workers await the presentation of a new minimum wage by NLC, the immediate past National President of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Mansur Muhammed Musa, suggested an upward adjustment of the minimum wage from N18, 000 to at least, N54, 000.

    He told The Nation that without such upward review, workers will continue toiling until they visit their graves and that is not what labour is all about. “There should be dignity in labour. So, N18, 000 minimum wage is out of the question. We should come together and demand for N54, 000 minimum wage,” he insisted.

    Comrade Musa described the governors’ threat as huge joke. “They (governors) have told us they cannot pay the minimum wage, but they have not told Nigerians whether they cannot also pay the maximum wage, because we know they are taking the maximum wage, he said, asking, “is it only the minimum wage of N18, 000 that they are giving to workers that they cannot pay?”

    The NUEE chief insisted that there are areas of wastages in the country that needed to be curtailed to free up resources to pay workers a new minimum wage of N54, 000. Hear him: “If we can reduce these areas of wastages we won’t have problems. Go to any of the Government Houses, nobody drives a golf car; they are all driving jeeps. Look at the convoy of governors when they are going from one place to another; look at the cost of fuel for their vehicles, personnel, and other allowances; you can go on and on and on.”

    Comrade Musa has an ally in the Secretary-General of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Comrade Bashir Lawal. The ASCSN scribe in a statement made available to The Nation wondered why governors who have not deemed it fit to reduce their humongous salaries and allowances are bent on jettisoning the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage.

    “Given the current high cost of living, the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage cannot even last the average worker one week yet, the governors are bent on reducing it. This is very unfortunate,” he said, alleging that “governors allocate to themselves, on the average, one billion naira monthly as security vote and spend nothing less than N18, 000 daily to feed one of their animal pets or buy recharge cards for one of their children, or worse still for one of their numerous girl friends.”

    Lawal stressed that if state governments could reduce wastages, tackle corruption, and moderate their greed, there would be enough money to pay enhanced minimum wage and carry out meaningful development in their states.

    He also pointed out that there is no state in the country that does not have natural resources, but instead of harnessing them they (governors) prefer to wait for monthly handouts and of late, bailouts from Abuja to administer their states.

    Comrade Lawal therefore, advised governors who are tired of governance because of fall in revenue allocation to resign and allow more serious minded individuals who are prepared to harness resources of the states for the benefit of the people including workers, come in.

     

    How crashing oil prices put

    governors, labour on war path

     

    In fairness to the governors, things have not been looking up for the economy. Since June 2014 when crude oil prices started tumbling, the Federal Government’s finances, and by extension, State Governments’ have been under tremendous pressure. Oil prices, which averaged $112 per barrel by June 2014, have continued to crash, with Brent hitting an all time low of $32.89 per barrel, last week.

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which predicted that crude oil prices may slump to as low as $20 per barrel this year further raised the blood pressure of Nigerian authorities especially the governors. This is so considering the fact that crude oil revenue accounts for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

    With the 2016 budget benchmark oil price of $38 per barrel, it means that if IMF’s prediction comes true, Nigeria’s economy will be in for more turbulence, as there won’t be any buffer for the budget. It also means, by extension, that state governors will be left with no choice than to make good their threat to either stop paying the N18, 000 minimum wage or lay off workers.

     

    Fed govt’s position

     

    The Federal Government through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has said the review of salaries of workers at the moment is not on the table because of the country’s economic challenges. He said other tiers of government that have more money could pay higher wages.

    Ngige, who spoke when the leadership of NLC visited him recently, however, said the minimum wage was an issue that was not contestable since it was a product of legislation backed by an Act of NASS.

    The minister said the NLC leadership was quite aware that the governors were playing politics with the issue, stressing that anybody that wants a review of the Minimum Wage Act should approach NASS or ask the President to send an Executive Bill.

     

     

     

    The coming weeks and months would determine whether the governors are merely playing politics with the minimum wage controversy or responding to the sustained pressure on their finances caused by the prevailing economic realities. But whichever way it goes, labour appears poised to force down the hands of the governors if they make good their threat.

     

     

     

     

  • Showdown looms over minimum wage

    Showdown looms over minimum wage

    Citing sharp decline in national revenue triggered by fall in oil prices, some governors have threatened to stop paying the N18, 000 minimum wage or retrench workers. But organised labour has dismissed the threat as a joke. To labour, it is a ploy to frustrate negotiation for upward review of the national minimum wage as required by law. Already, labour is mobilising its affiliates for a showdown, should the governors make good their threat. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State is known for his fierce rejection of injustice and an outstanding resolve to stand up to it. He demonstrated this attribute during his days in the labour movement where he was former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). So, when the comrade governor, as Oshiomhole is popularly called, recently announced his readiness to lead a protest to force some state governors to back down on their threat to reduce the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage or embark on massive retrenchment of workers, not a few Nigerians took him serious.

    To Nigerians, especially workers, Oshiomhole’s readiness to personally lead the battle against his governor colleagues whom he said have the capacity to pay the N18, 000 minimum wage, it was clear signal that indeed, a major showdown is imminent. The labour leader hinted this much when he said: “it is clear from all indicators that 2016 is likely to be very tough with the continued decline in revenue and rising expectation on the part of our people and with many state governments, local governments, and perhaps, even some federal agencies defaulting in the payment of salaries and allowances. The level of strike activities in the economy is going to be very high…”

    He spoke penultimate week in Benin, the Edo State capital, during a meeting with traditional rulers from Edo Central Senatorial district. In an apparent reference to the governors’ threat to lay off workers, he said the level of unemployment in the country is already unacceptably high, warning that “it could get even higher if we are not careful.” While pointing out that Edo State has been trying to ensure it sustains the tradition of meeting her wage obligation because the consequences of not doing so are huge, he reiterated the fact that the welfare of the people remains the main business of state governors hence they should be able to pay the N18,000 minimum wage.

    Sometime last year, some state governors touched the raw nerves of workers when they announced that they would no longer pay the N18, 000 minimum wage in view of the sharp decline in revenue caused by falling oil prices. The governors, under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), had after their meeting in Abuja, stated that the N18, 000 minimum wage was imposed on them when oil sold for $126 as against the price of $41 per barrel. This was the price at the time the governors pushed the argument. Oil price hit an all time low of $32.66 per barrel last week, the lowest since 2002.

    The NGF’s statement, conveyed by its Chairman, Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State, said: “The situation is no longer the same compared to when we were asked to pay N18, 000 minimum wage, when oil price was $126 per barrel and continued paying N18, 000 minimum wage when the oil is $41, and the source of government expenditure is oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil industry in the near future.” He said the way out of the situation was the diversification of the economy with attention to agriculture and mining.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State was more direct when he stated that there was no way the country could continue with a situation where expenditure was more than income. He inadvertently drew the battle line between the governors and labour when he said, “We are faced with a situation where we either have to reduce cost through salary reduction or downsize. All these we don’t want to do but prefer to have a roundtable with the President, ministers and economists to look for means of getting out of this problem.”

     

    Labour threatens fire and brimstone

     

    However, if Ajimobi and his colleagues expected to get labour’s understanding, they were wrong. Labour would hear nothing of either reducing cost through salary reduction or downsizing. And by the time the labour movement comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its various affiliates started taking turns to condemn and call the governors’ bluff, it became clear that the options dangled before them failed to hit the right chord.

    For instance, as far as NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba is concerned, the governors’ threat was mere ploy to frustrate the demand for an upward review of the N18, 000 minimum wage. Wabba has at various fora, stated that the five- year period stipulated for the review of the minimum wage had lapsed, hence NLC is working in collaboration with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to arrive at a new minimum wage to be presented to government.

    For instance, at a recent courtesy call by the NLC to Senate President Bukola Saraki, in Abuja, Wabba said NLC will submit a new minimum wage to the National Assembly (NASS), as N18, 000 minimum wage is no longer reasonable because of the current economic reality. He recalled that the last time the Minimum Wage Act was propagated by NASS was in 2011 and is due for evaluation.

    Wabba’s words: “The five-year circle during which the National Minimum Wage is due for review is here. The devaluation of the naira from N150 to $1 to about 242 to $1 today underscores the grim situation for salary earners in the country, against the fact that our economy is import driven.

    “The devaluation in simple economic terms means that the purchasing power of the ordinary Nigerian wage earner is grossly devalued. As a result, Congress will soon submit a New Minimum Wage demand, which we hope will be negotiated by the tripartite negotiating team.”

    The National Minimum Wage Act was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 after both houses of the National Assembly passed it into law, with a proviso for it to be reviewed upwards after five years. Wabba said NLC hopes that when the end product of negotiation for a review is brought before NASS for legislation, it will be treated with dispatch.

    The NLC President vowed to make the states ungovernable for any governor that tinker with the current minimum wage. “We will ensure that any governor that tries to reduce the N18, 000 minimum wage will not have rest in his domain until the right thing is done. Reducing the minimum wage is something that cannot be defended,” he threatened.

    Although, Wabba admitted the challenges in the economy, he said this does not mean that only the workers should suffer the consequence. He pointed out that if political office holders still collect the same salaries nationwide, there is no justification for anybody to think of tinkering with the minimum wage.

    But as workers await the presentation of a new minimum wage by NLC, the immediate past National President of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Mansur Muhammed Musa, suggested an upward adjustment of the minimum wage from N18, 000 to at least, N54, 000.

    He told The Nation that without such upward review, workers will continue toiling until they visit their graves and that is not what labour is all about. “There should be dignity in labour. So, N18, 000 minimum wage is out of the question. We should come together and demand for N54, 000 minimum wage,” he insisted.

    Comrade Musa described the governors’ threat as huge joke. “They (governors) have told us they cannot pay the minimum wage, but they have not told Nigerians whether they cannot also pay the maximum wage, because we know they are taking the maximum wage, he said, asking, “is it only the minimum wage of N18, 000 that they are giving to workers that they cannot pay?”

    The NUEE chief insisted that there are areas of wastages in the country that needed to be curtailed to free up resources to pay workers a new minimum wage of N54, 000. Hear him: “If we can reduce these areas of wastages we won’t have problems. Go to any of the Government Houses, nobody drives a golf car; they are all driving jeeps. Look at the convoy of governors when they are going from one place to another; look at the cost of fuel for their vehicles, personnel, and other allowances; you can go on and on and on.”

    Comrade Musa has an ally in the Secretary-General of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Comrade Bashir Lawal. The ASCSN scribe in a statement made available to The Nation wondered why governors who have not deemed it fit to reduce their humongous salaries and allowances are bent on jettisoning the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage.

    “Given the current high cost of living, the N18, 000 monthly minimum wage cannot even last the average worker one week yet, the governors are bent on reducing it. This is very unfortunate,” he said, alleging that “governors allocate to themselves, on the average, one billion naira monthly as security vote and spend nothing less than N18, 000 daily to feed one of their animal pets or buy recharge cards for one of their children, or worse still for one of their numerous girl friends.”

    Lawal stressed that if state governments could reduce wastages, tackle corruption, and moderate their greed, there would be enough money to pay enhanced minimum wage and carry out meaningful development in their states.

    He also pointed out that there is no state in the country that does not have natural resources, but instead of harnessing them they (governors) prefer to wait for monthly handouts and of late, bailouts from Abuja to administer their states.

    Comrade Lawal therefore, advised governors who are tired of governance because of fall in revenue allocation to resign and allow more serious minded individuals who are prepared to harness resources of the states for the benefit of the people including workers, come in.

     

    How crashing oil prices put

    governors, labour on war path

     

    In fairness to the governors, things have not been looking up for the economy. Since June 2014 when crude oil prices started tumbling, the Federal Government’s finances, and by extension, State Governments’ have been under tremendous pressure. Oil prices, which averaged $112 per barrel by June 2014, have continued to crash, with Brent hitting an all time low of $32.89 per barrel, last week.

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which predicted that crude oil prices may slump to as low as $20 per barrel this year further raised the blood pressure of Nigerian authorities especially the governors. This is so considering the fact that crude oil revenue accounts for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

    With the 2016 budget benchmark oil price of $38 per barrel, it means that if IMF’s prediction comes true, Nigeria’s economy will be in for more turbulence, as there won’t be any buffer for the budget. It also means, by extension, that state governors will be left with no choice than to make good their threat to either stop paying the N18, 000 minimum wage or lay off workers.

     

    Fed govt’s position

     

    The Federal Government through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has said the review of salaries of workers at the moment is not on the table because of the country’s economic challenges. He said other tiers of government that have more money could pay higher wages.

    Ngige, who spoke when the leadership of NLC visited him recently, however, said the minimum wage was an issue that was not contestable since it was a product of legislation backed by an Act of NASS.

    The minister said the NLC leadership was quite aware that the governors were playing politics with the issue, stressing that anybody that wants a review of the Minimum Wage Act should approach NASS or ask the President to send an Executive Bill.

  • Ondo NULGE tasks govs on minimum wage

    Ondo NULGE tasks govs on minimum wage

    President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Ondo State, Dr Bunmi Eniayewu, has urged governors across the federation to ensure strict implementation of the N18,000 minimum to all workers in their public service.

    Speaking yesterday while distributing souvenirs to local government workers in the state in Akure, Eniayewu said the current dwindling revenue in the country could not even support the present wage for workers and implored governors to look inward by increasing their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and design new strategies to support their statutory allocation to meet with the minimum wage challenge.

    He lamented that the public servants who are the engine room of government at all levels were being short-changed, while public officers reaped bountifully from the common wealth.

    Eniayewu said, “Let all the governors find a way of increasing their revenue internally, they should even pay more than N18,000. No worker will accept less than the agreed minimum wage, they are even agitating for upward review.”

    On the package distributed to workers, Eniayewu said it was an annual event by NULGE leadership in the state to appreciate its workers as a means of encouragement.

    He pledged the commitment of his other colleagues to ensure quick payment of their outstanding November 2015 salary to workers.

    In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Bamiduro Dada, commended the leadership of NULGE in the state and admitted that Nigerians are facing hard time at present.

    He, however, appreciated God in spite of everything and urged the workers to be more dedicated to duties and support the present Mimiko’s administration in its bid to improve their working conditions.

  • Wanted: Minimum wage for young lawyers

    Wanted: Minimum wage for young lawyers

    Emokiniovo Akpedeye is the daughter of Dafe Akpedeye (SAN). She tells ADEBISI ONANUGA  all about her dreams and why she studied law after a degree in Economics.

    Unlike some youths, Emokiniovo Akpedeye followed in her father’s footstep by studying law. The father, Dafe Akpedeye (SAN), is Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Election Working Group.

    “As a young child, I followed my dad to court and the Police Station near my house on various occasions. In fact, one time when I was about five years old, a police officer stopped my mum and I for carrying a drum of diesel in our pickup and he threatened to take us to the police station and I said, ‘don’t worry Mum, I know the DPO at that station’.

    “The man was shocked and let us go. I guess I have always known that I wanted to be an advocate for people and on becoming an adult, I realised that a country cannot progress without an effective legal system and lawyers as custodians of the rule of law.  So, studying law was, therefore, an easy choice.’’

    Asked if she ever considered any other profession,  she disclosed that her first degree was not in law but in Economics and Management.

    “I thoroughly enjoyed the course so much that I made a First Class. In fact, during my last year of the degree, I applied for both Law and a Masters in Development Economics. However, one of my modules during that degree was Business Law, which I found really fascinating and it spurred my interest to study Law. Also, getting an offer to study Law at the University of Oxford made the option to pursue law a more attractive prospect.”

    On the performance of young lawyers at the 2015 bar examination, Emokiniovo said the percentage of failure has fallen from the 2014 Bar Finals results. As a way out of poor performance, she suggested that the solution should be “a joint effort from both students and the teaching staff. Smaller tutorial class sizes would ensure that students understand the concepts explained in lectures and give students an avenue to ask more questions. Also, students need to realise early-on that the Bar Final exams are different from University ones and re-adjust their reading strategy accordingly.”

    Contrary to suggestion from some quarters, she said it would be unfair to ask new wigs without income to pay chambers for pupilage.

    According to her, “new wigs serve as a breath of fresh air to law firms with their ideas on what the law should be and their savvy technical skills. Their contribution to the work force should not be understated.”

    While agreeing that they need to learn the ropes from their seniors, she equally said that they should be adequately paid for their services.

    “Even in the United Kingdom where we inherited some of our current practices, new wigs are paid during their pupilage and not the other way around.”

    The young Akpedeye said young lawyers should be paid better. “Some firms pay as little as N20,000 a month to the young lawyers. In what state of the country can this suffice as a living wage?”she asked.

    “The NBA has often talked about a minimum wage for lawyers. I believe this is something that should be taken very seriously as it doesn’t make sense for a person to spend six years or more training to become a lawyer only to be paid the same wage as a cleaner.”

    Miss Akpedeye does not like living in her father’s shadows. “I do not really see my aspirations as being linked to my father. Yes, I come from a line of lawyers being the third generation of lawyers in my family but I am my own person.”

    Asked where she sees herself in 10 years, she said: “I have aspirations to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, not because my father is an SAN but because, for me, that is the zenith of a legal career in Nigeria. I am an ambitious person and career satisfaction is very important to me. I will enjoy legal practice. The Bench would be restrictive.”

    She sees the low number of women involved in advocacy as a personal issue. “I do not believe there is any accurate statistics on the number of men versus women in advocacy. I mean, even during my court attachment for the law school externship, there were many young female lawyers appearing in court and so I think the assertion of more men than women in advocacy is wrong.

    “In terms of female empowerment, the legal industry is leading the way with many females becoming lawyers. In another 15-20 years, the tide will possibly change to elevating more females than males to the inner bar. By then, this unfounded assertion will be put to rest but for now, I can only say that it is untrue.”

    Her graduation  from the Law School marks the beginning of a new chapter in her professional pursuit. “I have become a lawyer and I am embarking on a new journey career-wise. Prior to this, my love for numbers and business led me to Economics and Management. As my mother is a Civil Engineer, everyone must love Mathematics in our household. A1 in WAEC Maths is a given or else don’t bother telling us your results.

    “Also, my father has owned and managed his law firm and exposed me to the business world early on in life. Because of this family background, I found Economics to be intuitive and easy to understand.”

    On her hobbies, she said: “In my personal life, I am the eldest of three children and the family holiday organiser. It is actually more difficult than it sounds since everyone in my family has such different ideas on what classifies as a good holiday experience.

    “I am also a bit of a ‘gym freak’. I love my gym. Exercising allows me to relax when I am under pressure and gives me the clarity of mind to do great work. The best essays I wrote in University were generally after an intensive workout. I was at the gym everyday the week before the Bar Finals exam and it kept me calm and focused during the revision and exam period.’’

     

  • Governors’ unholy alliance on minimum wage

    SIR: Never in the history of Nigeria has hope been hopelessly dashed, faith rudely compromised, promises wilfully and consciously  broken, resources squandered, priorities brazenly misplaced and confidence betrayed as witnessed today in Nigeria.

    I salute the resilience and courage of the Nigerian workers who have suffered for too long. Nigerian workers are the most abused and undervalued in the world because their salary is grossly inadequate and not being paid as and when due. With ¦ 18,000 monthly, they still run a mini-government for themselves by providing for their family what the government ought to provide for them such as light, water, security, transport, apart from their normal feeding and school fees, medicals etc.

    With all these responsibility shifted to them by the government, it is pure wickedness akin to terrorism for any governor to say that ¦ 18,000 is too much for the lowest worker in Nigeria. When a leader is suffering from mental fatigue, his only option to economic challenges is reducing the salaries of poor innocent civil servants whose take home pay cannot take them home. In civilised climes, leaders are reviewing wages upward, creating employment to discourage the youth from terrorism, kidnapping and other type of social vices which are all siblings of unemployment. A society like Nigeria that ought to create employment due to the high spate of insecurity that has skyrocketed to unprecedented proportion in the country is now contemplating policies that will compound the security situation. You don’t solve a small problem by creating a bigger one.

    It must be made abundantly clear that when the economy was in boom, instead of them to create an enabling environment where economic activities would thrive, governors were busy fashioning out economic policies that promote private selfish acquisition. They were busy measuring their success with the number of latest cars, houses in choice areas, concubines etc against one another. It was enjoyment galore for them.

    Also, it is important to recall that when the oil boom was at its peak, Nigeria was selling its crude above its benchmark price. That necessitated the establishment of the Excess Crude Account by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to act as a stabilization fund, closing budget deficits caused by oil price volatility. The fund was designed to enable savings for the rainy day. The governors under the umbrella of “Nigerian Governors Forum” led by the now Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in 2008 instituted a lawsuit at the Supreme Court against the Yar’Adua government calling for the sharing of $15 billion from the ECA. From that moment it was sharing galore. Such funds would have been very useful now that the price of crude is on a free fall.

    I will like to emphasise that most of these governors rose to the apex of power by dint of sheer luck and got overwhelmed by the behemoth of the office. Leadership is not a snap. It is a position that is gruelling and tedious. Unfortunately, we have leaders who do not like the grind but preferred the grandeur of the office.

    My advice for these governors is to sacrifice by cutting down all wastefulness under any guise such as security vote, irrelevant ceremonies, numerous special aides and assistants, humongous allowances, and other inflated contracts which have constituted the drain-pipe of resources.

    Any attempt to form a cartel against the minimum wage will be resisted by Nigerian workers. This might just be the last straw that will break the camel’s back.

     

    • Abiodun Aladetan

    Lagos

  • Kwara won’t reduce minimum wage – Ahmed

    Kwara won’t reduce minimum wage – Ahmed

    Governor  Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara says his administration will continue to pay the N18,000 minimum wage inspite of the drop in revenue earnings.

    Ahmed gave the assurance at the inauguration of an auditorium at the Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies, Ilorin.

    “The state government is committed to the security and welfare of its workforce despite the current controversy about the proposed downward review of the minimum wage to workers in Nigeria.

    “I am happy to announce that the state government is still committed to the continued payment of the minimum wage as it is notwithstanding the dwindling monthly allocations from the Federation Account,’’ Ahmed said.

    The state government, he said, was also set to introduce the Contributory Pension Scheme in order to check post retirement pension challenges.

    He said it was becoming increasingly impossible to sustain the present pension model where the state government was solely responsible for workers’ pension.

    The governor described the Contributory Pension Scheme as result-oriented and affordable, saying it would be easy for beneficiaries to invest and get interest on their deposits.

    “It is therefore necessary and in fact beneficial to adopt the more sustainable model of contributory pension in Kwara State,’’ he said.

    The governor, who urged workers in the state to embrace the contributory pension model, said it would be beneficial to them and assist government in the judicious management of scarce resources.

    The Director-General of the institute, Dr John Olarewaju, said the institution had been playing critical role in capacity development of the country’s labour force through various educational programmes.

  • Electricity workers push for N54,000 minimum wage

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) is pushing for the review of the N18, 000 minimum wage being paid to workers in the country. It said the review of the slave wage is long overdue, urging the workers to close ranks and demand for N54,000 as new  minimum wage.

    Its past President, Comrade Mansur Muhammed Musa, argued that it is only when this is done that workers would put in their best. He said without the review, workers would continue to work like elephant and eat liek ants, adding that the dignity of labour must be respected.

    “There should be dignity in labour. So, N18, 000 minimum wage is out of the question. We should come together and demand for N54, 000 minimum wage,” he insisted.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lafia, Nasarawa State, after the Union’s fifth Quadrennial/10th Delegates Conference, Comrade Musa, dismissed as huge joke threats by some governors not to pay the N18, 000 minimum wage because of the financial crunch induced by the fall in oil prices in the international market.

    Some governors had stirred the hornet nest when they claimed that the N18, 000 minimum wage was imposed on them when oil was sold for $126 as against the present price of $41 per barrel and that they cannot pay. This did not go down well with workers.

    Many of them, including Musa argued that apart from the fact that the National Minimum Wage Act is due for review after five years of becoming law, the current purchasing power of the naira has made the N18, 000 minimum wage unsustainable.

    “They (governors) have told us they cannot pay the minimum wage, but they have not told Nigerians whether they cannot also pay the maximum wage because we know they are taking the maximum wage,” the labour unionist said. “What are they saying about their own maximum wage or is it only the minimum of N18, 000 that they are giving to workers that they cannot pay?”

    The former NUEE chief, who handed over the mantle of leadership to a new president elected at the end of the conference, insisted that there were areas of wastages in the country that needed to be curtailed to free up resources to pay workers a new minimum wage of N54, 000.

    He said: “If we can reduce the areas of wastages, we won’t have problems. Go to any of the Government Houses, nobody drives a Golf car; they are all driving jeeps.’’

    “Look at the convoy of governors when they are going from one place to another; look at the cost of fuel for their vehicles, personnel, and other allowances; you can go on and on and on. So, they can pay the N18, 000 minimum wage. We are not even asking them to pay only N18,000 minimum wage now or sustain the payment of N18, 000, we are asking for a review from N18, 000 to about N54, 000 or N60, 000 as minimum wage”

    Comrade Musa said with the upward review a worker can manage to go to work, take care of his children, feed them, pay their school fees so, he can now concentrate on the job. “The worker’s productivity will be better and there won’t be corruption; it will bring down corruption to the lowest level,” he added.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari should demonstrate the change mantra by increasing the minimum wage to N54, 000 so as to eliminate corruption at that level and also give workers a new lease of life.

  • NUT faults call by governors to reduce minimum wage

    NUT faults call by governors to reduce minimum wage

    …..frowns at move to employ graduates as teachers

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has faulted calls by some state governors to reduce the N18, 000 minimum wages for workers following the crash in the global price of oil.

    The union described the move by the governors as unfortunate and unpatriotic.

    The NUT said this in a communiqué jointly signed by its National President, Michael Olukoya, and the General Secretary, Obong Obong, at the end of a meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) held in Abuja on Wednesday.

    NEC said that the minimum wage, which was negotiated in 2011, had already lost its value in the face of hyper-inflation in the country.

    It said that rather than for the governors to call for a review of the wage which had long been overdue for an upward review, some of them are contemplating its downward review.

    The NUT NEC also commended the federal government for raising the retirement age of teachers of Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and the Universities from 60 to 65 and 70 years respectively.

    At the end of the meeting, the NEC unanimously demanded that the retirement age of teachers of primary and secondary schools in the country should also be raised from 60 to 65 years.

    However, the union frowned at moves by the federal government to employ some graduates as teachers.

    It said that hiring the services of untrained, unskilled and non- professional graduates as teachers in schools instead of hiring the services of qualified educational experts that abound in the labour market, would worsen the education standard in the country.

    The communiqué reads: “The NEC-in-session viewed as most unfortunate and unpatriotic, the unwarranted agitations by governors to reduce the legislated N18, 000 National Minimum Wage using the untenable argument of dwindling oil revenue.

    “The NEC-in-session viewed the proponents for the reduction of the already bastardised minimum wage as lacking in ingenuity to resolve the massive socio-economic problems of the Nigerian society without causing further afflictions to the suffering masses.”

     

    “The NEC-in-session noted with regret that, whereas many state governors have already flagrantly flouted the extant laws on minimum wage by either refusing to implement the wage or by percentage implementation, particularly for Nigerian teachers, the current agitation for the reduction of the minimum wage is tantamount to the proverbial “adding of salt to injury.

     

    The NEC-in-session applauded and fully supported the prompt reaction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to the anti-people plan of the governors and pledged the Union’s unalloyed cooperation with the labour centre in the fight against these unwholesome agitations.

    The statement added, “The NEC-in-session noted that the rot and decay already witnessed in the school system is traceable to the use of quacks, auxiliary and non professional teachers who were employed under similar unevaluated policies of the years past and wondered why government would prefer quackery to the skilled man power that abound.

    “The NEC-in-session strongly resolved that the Union will resist any attempt to flood the school system with quacks that may worsen the already precarious educational standards in the country and advised government to rescind its decision forthwith”

     

  • N18, 000 minimum wage not negotiable – NLC

    N18, 000 minimum wage not negotiable – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) insisted that the N18, 000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers is not fixed but was negotiated through a tripartite system.

    It therefore warned that any governor reneging of that agreement is breaking the law of the land, adding that such governor should resign from his position.

    NLC also hailed the ongoing war against corruption by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that corruption had killed more people in the country than road accidents.

    NLC President Ayuba Wabba, told reporters Friday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital shortly after his condolence visit to for NLC vice president, Issa Aremu on the death of his wife.

    He said: “They have been misinforming the people about the N18, 000 minimum wage. Minimum wage is not fixed, it was negotiated through a tripartite system; ten state governors represented the governors, federal government and organized private sector were also represented. It was a tripartite process of collective bargaining.

    “We had looked at all the indices of ability to pay. It is a law and anybody that refuses to pay is breaking the law of Nigeria and we advise any such governor to resign.

    “Why is it that the salary of councilors to the highest political office all over the country despite their inability to pay is the same? If there is economic challenge why should it be the workers that will bear the burden? Councilors in least economic viable to the most economic viable states in the country earn the same salaries. So who are they fooling?

    “Can they continue to fool us? When the resources were there workers were not enjoying. Now that there is a challenge in the system why should the burden be shifted only to the workers? That is not acceptable to us. This is like a battle for us as we must continue to insist that workers should work in dignity and there must be dignity in labour.”

    On war against corruption, Comrade Wabba said: “The ongoing probe is not unexpected. Since the inception of current democracy people have assisted themselves with our commonwealth. I am sure if we are able to recover these resources from local, state to federal governments, we will have more than enough to fix our system and everybody will enjoy.

    “Now they don’t steal in millions; we hear of billions these days. They will buy houses they cannot use. They will buy houses in Nigeria, Dubai and United Kingdom. How many houses will a person sleep in at a particular night? Therefore, it is vanity for politicians to continue to loot even what they cannot use.

    For me the anti-corruption war must be consistent; it must also go down to the ladder including the organized private sector. All of us must be interrogated. Corruption has killed many people even more than road accidents. The roads are not fixed because the resources meant to fix the roads have been frittered away. Why are the hospitals not functioning optimally and people are dying? It is because, the resources are supposed to be used to fix the hospitals have been misappropriated. That is why we are canvassing for capital punishment. It has worked elsewhere.

    “The apparent slowness in the current administration is because what is required to fight corruption must be put in place; I also know that when you fight corruption the people involved will fight back. And the process will also slow the person fighting it down; but the president should continue to be consistent. He should not be deterred because it is only a clean leader that can fight corruption. We urge to be consistent in his war against corruption because that is why Nigerians voted for him for a positive change.”

  • Minimum Wage and wages of incompetence

    Minimum Wage and wages of incompetence

    The news is still well out there that a disproportionately high number of governors in Nigeria are tired of paying the N18,000 minimum wage to their workers. In a communiqué issued by its chairman, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) at the endof its meeting recently at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said a cut in the minimum wage was inescapable. The NGF in that boondoggle advanced all manners of reasons to justify its decision. Where the reasons outlined are not laughable, they are, to put it charitably, bizarre! Of course the principal raison d’etre is the worsening economic situation in the country.

    But what the governors in that circus display failed to say directly is that they are at their wits’ end and so are unworthy of their positions. But as usual, they are people who do not like monkey but still refuse to let go of its tail! The Chichidodo they are, they detest faeces but lovingly enjoy the maggots produced therefrom!

    First, let it be noted that it is callous and unforgivable for the governors concerned to assault workers with the claptrap that they can no longer pay the N18,000 minimum wage after they have punished the same people with backlogs of unpaid salaries and continue to decimate their lives with irregular and fragmentary payments! How long will the already financially gelded Nigerian workers be stranded in the woods of needless and preventable economic misery?

    If the governors involved carry the day with respect to reduction in the minimum wage rather than ensure an upward review as agreed about five years ago, then the Nigerian workers must indeed be custom made for suffering. I mean, if the governors succeed in either reducing the take-home (which has never taken the workers half way home) or renege on the agreement to jack up the pay, then no one should weep for the body of workers in the country. They probably derive some joy from the punishment. Strange, at times, are the ways of humankind.

    The workers in Nigeria must put forth a formidable front and a united voice. Let the Nigerian workers draw sense and strength from the abolitionist, Frederick Douglas, who himself fought hard to wrench freedom from his heartless slavers. To all those enslaved in whatever form, Douglas’ voice of encouragement rings out thus: ‘Those who will be free must themselves strike the first blow’. They must also drink from Soyinka’s well of helpful thought: ‘When dealing with hardened recidivists, justice is best served through pitiless rigours and remorseless pursuit’. The minimum wage-cutting governors are not normal human beings to be engaged with weak punches or vacillating deportment. The workers will need the unrelenting ferocity of a lion in their fight against these common foes.

    To wrestle the demons of pain and punishment that are the governors, the workers through their leading voices must not sip or quaff from the bottle containing the liquid of hurting compromise or blind betrayal. The representatives of the workers must not be carried away by the sumptuous gastronomies that often adorn the tables of the enemies they are warring against during negotiations. Any member of the workers’ negotiating committee with gastronomic lunacy must be excused from the group.

    The workers must remember that they have compromised too much. They must remember that the N54,000 they proposed five years ago as the minimum wage was brutally slashed to the present amount that is being viciously threatened with a violent decimation. They accepted the pittance back then on the condition that after five years, the minimum wage would be reviewed upward, not lacerated. Surely, the workers have compromised too much to now settle for another offensive rationalisation from the problem-generating governors. Let the workers arm themselves to the teeth with all the weapons of logic and uncompromising incorrigibility – they must manfully duel and effectively slay the dragons of their sorrow and pain.

    Happily, some governors – yes from the same overly cossetted group of governors under the NGF – have dissociated themselves from the asphyxiating voices of incompetence and Schadenfreude. Governors like Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State have said it was possible to pay the minimum wage. This in itself is a ringing rebuke to the wage-cutting group of governors. There is another encouragement for the workers; they must stand pat on their decision to refuse the cut in the minimum wage. If some states can still afford to pay this wage in spite of the harsh economic downturn that a majority of the governors have now erected as a pillar of excuse to afflict workers and their families, absolutely others are inexcusable.

    That governors are poised to cut the minimum wage is an eloquent testimony to the fact that political leaders in Nigeria barely think of leadership positions as problem-solving platforms. We are enormously blessed with leaders who are expert at gaining control of the levers of power but are as ignorant of the end to which to put power. Yes, the decline in oil receipts and reduction in the strange federal allocation to states make them insolvent. But what should never be overlooked or trivialised is the acute lack of financial managerial competence on the part of a large number of the governors.

    The wages of incompetence in Nigeria are the oceanic and crippling poverty, the huge deficit in infrastructural development, the painfully increasing erosion of the dignity of the human person, the pervasive and suffocating youth unemployment, the daily summary termination of many an otherwise active mind.

    The wages of incompetence are the hefty bailout packages given to the poor managers of resources. When you bail out wastrels, you empower them to up the ante of reckless spending, misplacement of priority and unprofitable projects. You do not bail out states run by profligates who when confronted with their abhorrent habits often pass the buck. Spendthrifts do not take responsibility for their objectionable actions. To come to their aid with bailout funds is tantamount to encouraging them to continue to cavort in their pools of wastefulness

    If the governors cannot think soothing solution to the problem of shortfall in revenue, if they cannot be creative and reorder their individual state’s accounts, if they cannot cut their coats according to their cloths, and if they cannot ingeniously rise to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, in addition to doing away with bogus and barren projects, let them relinquish their posts. If for the reason of the severe losses in revenues they cannot upwardly review the minimum wage, they must not cut it and they must cultivate the habit of paying it regularly. Otherwise, the workers and their dependants need a clean break from the taxing wages of incompetence that the downward review of the minimum wage is a part of.

     

    • Ademola writes from Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.