The Nation Newspaper

Tag: minimum wage

  • Ojo to governors: Don’t reduce minimum wage

    Ojo to governors: Don’t reduce minimum wage

    The General Overseer and Presiding Bishop of Calvary Kingdom Church International, Archbishop Joseph Ojo, has charged state governors to jettison the idea of reducing the minimum wage of civil servants as that would  throw civil servants into greater hardship.

    Ojo said this last Sunday at the end of the year thanksgiving service of the church at the church headquarters in Lagos.

    The event which was tagged double grace pooled together thousands of Christian faithful, church leaders, captains of industries. It featured song renditions, prayers, thanksgiving, and bible teachings.

    He said that the present hardships facing Nigerians are enormous and reducing the minimum wage will further aggravate their suffering, groaning and frustration, and this could have serious effect on the polity.

    He noted that it is disheartening as state governors get over N100million as security votes and are not ready to reduce their votes to cater for the shortfall in the revenue accrued to their state but expect the civil servants to bear the brunt of the problem.

    “State governors must show empathy and good example by publicly declaring their security votes and reduce the same and let their salaries be equivalent with the salaries of the permanent secretaries in the interest of the hapless civil servants in their states,”he said.

    He opined that the state governors should look inward and raise funds through tax, public private partnership programmes, grants, cut down on unnecessary travels and block all the loop holes in their states so they can raise enough money to deliver on their campaign promises.

    On whether Nigerians will suffer a lot from the removal of oil subsidy, he said, “it will affect the common man but with time it will stabilise but nobody or group of persons should continue to eat fat on our common wealth.”

    He said oil subsidy is a scam and a fraudulent practice against the people of Nigeria.

    He said it is sad that middlemen are feeding fat on subsidy and many of the perpetrators belong to the various political divides which is injurious to the wellbeing of Nigeria.

    Secretary of the Pentecoatal Fellowship of Nigeria  asserted that the subsidy removed on diesel and kerosene has made the product available for Nigerians who need them.

    Ojo, declared that continuous long queues at our fuel/gas stations, bad road, dilapidated schools and gross underdevelopment ravaging our society need urgent attention in the interest of the people.

    He went further to charged Nigerians to continue to pray for the country and the new administration for it to succeed.

    He said, “people like us have hope and we are praying. Let us pray for the government to succeed and they will succeed and do the right thing. It is only the fool that will fail to pray but let the government do what is right.”

    Speaking on his 40th wedding anniversary, Ojo said that God has brought him and his wife together under a covenant of grace and they have been enjoying it for this long. God indeed has been faithful.

    He said that mutual and respectful relationship in a garden experience is very germane for the sustenance of a godly marriage.

    The cleric, who noted that there were times of storms in his marriage, said “trust, appreciation, love and living together without suspicion will keep the home even in the most turbulent times.”

     

  • Minimum wage: Don’t sack workers 

    SIR: Recently, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) threatened to retrench workers due to the precarious financial situation facing many states in the country. Chairman of the Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said that the proposed action was necessitated by falling oil price, which has drastically affected the ability of many states to pay the monthly national minimum wage of N18,000. In the communique issued by the governors after their meeting, they noted that apart from the resultant effect of the global oil price, the minimum wage was imposed on them by the Federal Government.  Moreover, that the minimum wage, which was forced on them when crude oil sold for $126 per barrel, is no longer payable, now that oil price has plummeted to $40.

    Expectedly, the governors’ position attracted immediate reaction from all and sundry. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in particular has rejected any attempt by the governors to tamper with the workers’ salaries.

    The NLC contended that the N18,000, as currently being paid cannot even be termed as realistic living wage for any Nigerian worker, given the downturn in the country’s economy and the skyrocketing cost of living worsened by acute inflation.

    Rather than threaten to reduce salaries or downsize their workforce, states should device more sustainable ways for generating revenue internally.  They should reduce their recurrent expenditure  to enable them take care of the needs of their workers. This, they can do by curbing wastes, exploring more avenues for earnings, reducing frivolous spending under the cover of security votes, limiting overseas trips and the number of their idle aides.

    The governors should avoid venturing into bogus projects that have little or no value to the states, reduce ministries and parastatals to optimal numbers, explore opportunities in the almost neglected sectors such as agriculture, mining and solid minerals. A lot of savings could be made if they diligently screen their payrolls for fake pensioners and ghost workers.

     

    • Adewale Kupoluyi,

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • Oshiomhole: Minimum wage shouldn’t be burden on governors

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday declared that the payment of N18,000 minimum wage should not be a burden to any governor.

    Due to dwindling resources, many governors, who have been struggling to pay workers’ salaries, have been pushing for a review of the minimum wage.

    But speaking with reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, Oshiomhole said welfare of the people is the main business of the leaders.

    He said: “With due respect to my colleagues, it is offensive to talk about minimum wage,how can the food of the steward be the reason that the elders cannot eat. I mean by conventional wisdom. If there is crisis in the system, it’s the excess fat that will share fats not the skeletons. The idea of using minimum is very offensive.

    “The problem with Nigeria is that each time we confront a serious economic problem we look at the escape route option. Those are not the heart of the challenges, we must go to the heart of challenges; we must revisit? issues. I also believe it is simplistic to believe that one drug will cure all the ailments in the various states.

    “Every state has to take its own independent evaluation the nature of its own problems and design appropriate policy instrument to deal with those problems as they relate to each state. We cannot have governors’ wide solution.

    “The problem in one state is not the same with the one in Edo state. Everybody will have to deal with its own. Lastly I also think that if anybody wants to talk about federalism, let’s not talk about federalism where it affects the wages of the lowest paid.

    “I have asked this question why should Edo state governor receive the same salary as the governor of Lagos State when the population of Lagos State doubles that of Edo state and their GDP is much higher. Why should I receive the same pay as the governor of Zamfara state or Akwa Ibom, these states are richer by accident of location.

     

  • Minimum wage debacle

    The kite flown by state governors on their inability to pay the national minimum wage may soon snowball into an unprecedented labour crisis. A fortnight ago, the governors had after their meeting, announced they could no longer pay the N18, 000 minimum wage regime that has been in force since 2011. They called for a downward review or alternatively they will have to reduce their workforce.

    They contended that the poor state of the nation’s economy and the sharp drop in the price of oil from $126 to $41 per barrel had rendered the wage regime unrealistic. Expectedly, the idea attracted a barrage of negative reactions especially from the NLC which blamed the governors for mismanaging the affairs of their states only to turn round and find scapegoat in the suffering workers.

    But a lone voice came from Edo State where, Adams Oshiomhole dissociated himself from the retrogressive proposal by his colleagues. He had argued that the subsisting minimum wage regime was a product of elaborate agreement between labour and the various governments and was not imposed on the governors. In view of this, Oshiomhole said the issue was already time barred.

    Oshiomohle was living up to his bidding as a former president of the NLC. He could not understand why his colleagues should, five years after and in the face of very excruciating economic circumstances, contemplate a downward review of the minimum wage. Given this background, it would have been inconceivable for the Edo State governor not to align on the side of the workers. If his position is prompted by the desire to gain cheap popularity, so be it. Even then, he has support from the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.

    No doubt, the biting living conditions and spiralling inflation have added up to take the shine off the real value of the N18, 000 pay. As the governors spoke, the naira had fallen to an all time low making it nigh impossible for the average worker to eke a living under the subsisting minimum wage regime. A further reduction would have amounted to consigning them to their early grave.

    But as the dust raised by the governors’ ill-advised position is yet to settle, the NLC has come up with a fresh position on the matter. This time, it is seeking an upward review on the grounds that the timeframe for the extant wage regime has elapsed. Its’ president, Ayuba Wabba said a new minimum wage will soon be presented to the government for approval.

    He accused the governors of floating the reduction idea as a deliberate ploy to frustrate the demand for upward review which is now due. But the governors have come out again to insist the wage regime will have to be reduced or they would trim their workforce. Chairman of their forum, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State restated this after a meeting with President Buhari.  As things stand, we may be heading for a standoff with organized labour. The equation is now looking complex given the new angles introduced by the NLC and Yari.

    Both sides are tenaciously holding on to their positions with varying degrees of merit. The NLC cannot be faulted in its strident opposition to either a reduction of the minimum wage or pruning down the workforce. The challenges of survival currently faced by workers coupled with a high unemployment rate make each of those options very scary. This is even aggravated by the fact that our governors are not known to be prudent managers of public funds. Acceding to those options would amount to holding the workers responsible for the inefficiencies of their leaders.

    The governors are also not entirely out of order when they cite the parlous state of the economy following the sharp drop in federal allocations as part of the reasons for their inability to pay. Many of them owe workers arrears of salaries and pensions running into 10 months or more. Of late, the federal government had to bail them out even as the situation has not substantially altered.

    We are here confronted with a challenging decision issue that comes with three options. The first option is to have the minimum wage regime reduced or alternatively lay off workers. The second, as thrown up by the NLC, is to review the wage upwards. There is also a third possibility nay, a compromise position to maintain the status quo.

    Decision theorists are concerned with the rational option presented by the situation given the conflicting positions of the two parties. Of interest is that choice that will best protect the overall interests of workers given the above circumstance. The challenge is to situate the workers within the three game matrixes and determine how best they would fare in each of the situations.

    If salaries are reviewed downwards, they will suffer seriously given that even with the current regime they can hardly meet their basic needs. This option will not help matters. Neither will its concomitant of layoffs in the face of a high unemployment rate. The second option of an upward salary review as canvassed by the NLC also comes with serious problems. For now, the governors are unable to pay the current regime as is evident in the mounting arrears of salaries and pensions. To further increase wages under this situation will amount to adding salt to injury. This presents a remote possibility.

    That is where the third option comes into play. This option instructs that the current wage regime should remain as it is. Its corollary is to bury any idea lay off. That is the most rational thing to do. There is no point increasing salaries when the governors are unable to pay their workers. But they must find ways of not only paying the subsisting salaries but retaining the present workforce. That is the challenge before them. Those who find themselves unable to manage the current situation can as well throw in the towel.

    Given the lifestyles of some of them; their penchant for ostentation and unbridled appetite for material acquisition, there is little doubt they can do better if they exercise more discretion in the management of resources.

    They need to show by example and not precept the reality of the hard economic situation by cutting down on areas of wastage. In some of the states, the embarrassing flamboyance of the governors, the number of cars in their convoy and properties owned by them and members of the families which are of public knowledge, make a mockery of any idea of cutting down what is paid to the worker.

    Last week, Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade announced the appointment of about 28 commissioners. A perusal of the list showed obvious duplication of ministries. At a time the governors are claiming inability to pay the minimum wage, 28 commissioners for a state are rather over bloated.

    There is also the case of Imo State, where the governor has not considered it fit to constitute a cabinet. He prefers running the state through task forces. Yet workers last week grounded activities in the state protesting non-payment of salaries running into several months. These instances underscore the point that other options abound if the governors realistically seek to get out of their seeming financial predicament.

    The minimum wage debacle brings to the fore the imperative of creativity and imagination in exploring alternative revenue sources without overburdening the masses through sundry extortionist task forces. It also reinforces the inevitability of restructuring the over-centralized federal order. Maybe that restructuring will commence with the current dilemma over minimum wage payment by state governments.

  • Why minimum wage must be re-negotiated, by governor

    Why minimum wage must be re-negotiated, by governor

    Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari yesterday said governors, the Presidency and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) should re-negotiate the 18,000 minimum wage.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, dwindling oil prices had drastically affected the revenue generation of most states, which is adversely affecting their ability to pay workers.

    The governor, however, denied making statements stopping the minimum wage.

    He said: “Let me make it clear to Nigerians, Governors’ Forum is not the enemy of labour. Rather, we have been working together. But what we are saying, because not only Governor Wike but also my friend in the comradeship, Adams Oshiomhole, kicked against the decision.

    “Although we never said that we are going to stop the N18,000 minimum wage, we are looking at the situation in the country and the global economy.

    “What we said is that when the National Assembly enacted the law of paying N18,000 minimum wage, oil was about $118 per barrel and today oil is sold for $41 per barrel.

    “So, if it continues, definitely, we will find it difficult to continue. We have to sit down with labour and see how we can review, either continue or downsizing or what we are going to do. We want to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so many things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for security, there are other things, such as social lives of our people and the nation as a state.

    “The receipt from federation account, some people received N400 million, N500 million. Some others received N55 million, two digits. And there are other issues.  Not even the salary, their pension is over a billion. So, how can we continue borrowing and servicing the service aspect of our expenditure, or overhead? How can we do that?

    “We are telling the public that we are planning to sit down with the President and his team and the governors as a team and the experts to come out with the way forward and how we are going to handle the poor state of the economy.

    “But what we have on ground now will not be realistic if it continues the way it is without having other sources from the economy and still relying on oil that is being sold for $118 dollar per barrel and now down to $41 and think that we can continue behaving or misbehaving the way we are doing, if there is anything like that.

    “Therefore we are saying that we should tighten our belts. Sometime definitely, we should sit down and come out of it to find a way we are going to do it realistically or otherwise.”

    On the position taken by Governors Adams Oshiomole and Nyesom Wike of Edo and Rivers states, Yari said the states were rich with industries that are raising their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    He said: “I can understand why the governor of Rivers state is speaking the way he is speaking. He thinks every place is Rivers. It is not.”

     

  • Governors who can’t pay salary should resign -Aremu

    Governors who can’t pay salary should resign -Aremu

    Former Vice President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu has said that any of the 36 States Governors who cannot pay the minimum wage of N18, 000.00 to workers, should resign from office.

    Aremu who is the General Secretary, National Union of Textile Garment Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN) said such governor has no reason to be in the business of governance.

    He spoke Thursday as the Guest Speaker at the 18th Joint Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2015 edition of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

    The topic of the paper presentation was, “Government Patronage of Made –in-Nigeria Products, A Panacea for Industrial Growth and Development.”

    He argued that one of the ways to judge the performance of the sitting President and all the States governors is their ability to resuscitate the collapsed industries in the country.

    “Any State government that cannot pay salary has no reason to be in business of governance, and therefore, any governor that cannot pay the salary should resign,” Aremu said.

    He noted that Nigeria is sitting on the keg of gun powder, if its alarming rate of unemployment is not nip in the bud.

    He said, “Nigeria is playing with fire because 24 percent of its population is officially unemployed, and 50 percent unofficially unemployed. Some countries have a total of only 12 percent unemployment crisis, the people with on rampage. Nigeria must begin to prevent this by reopening all closed factories to engage the teeming unemployed youths.

    “Labour strongly supports the urgent need to rebuild Nigeria through targeted efficient massive productive spending. President Buhari must be weary of the emergency advisers who claim falsely that government has no business in business.

    “Government not only has business in business, the art of governance itself is a business that must be done.

    “Let me recommend Governor Mallam El Rufai to other states governors in this respect. I learnt that the moribund Kaduna furniture factory is almost back to produce thousands of school desks for public schools in Kaduna.

    “The Governor has also promised textile mills to produce school uniforms. And another organisation, Crittal Hope, is also back to life producing windows and needed metals to fix the class rooms.

    “We must re-energize “Buy Naija” Campaign to target large private sector corporates and the general consumer public on the need to patronize locally made goods for industrial development.

    “I urge President Buhari and the new Ministers of Industry, Trade and Investment, to implement the recommendations of 2014 Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and the Committee on the Economy, Trade and Investment of the 2014 National Conference.

    “The two reports emphasis government patronage as a critical success factor in industrial growth and development,” he said.

  • Minimum wage

    Minimum wage

    •Maximum brouhaha

    If many state governors had their way, they would not only reduce the N18,000 minimum wage in the country; they would also reduce their workforce in view of the difficulties they are having in meeting their basic obligation to the workers. The governors made their position known through their umbrella body, the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). According to their chairman, Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State, the minimum wage was “imposed” on them when oil sold for $126 per barrel and now that price has plummeted to $41, they can no longer pay the amount. The only lone, even if loud voice among the governors, is that of Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State who said, quite emphatically, that he was committed to payment of the N18,000 minimum wage.

    According to him, payment of the N18,000 minimum wage in his state “remains sacrosanct to his administration”. Hear him, “in Edo State, we will not only pay the minimum wage, we will pay all wages because I believe that the day I cannot pay salaries, it is time to resign”. He warned his colleagues that “democracy does not run at the convenience and comfort of governors, ministers and presidents”.

    We should understand where Oshiomhole is coming from; he is a former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress and so knows the consequences of his colleagues’ position. Thus, Oshiomhole seemed to have said it all on behalf of Nigerian workers. But in spite of Governor Oshiomhole’s soothing balm, the NLC has threatened to demand an increase in the minimum wage, which it says is no longer realistic in the face of the current economic situation.

    Rather than tamper with minimum wage, many concerned Nigerians have advised the governors to look into other areas of waste. Some people have stated  that even if workers work for free, many of the governors, because of their profligacy, would still run their states aground. Obviously, this shows that the problem is not so much with the workers, but with the governors themselves! Therefore, instead of reducing minimum wage or downsizing, the governors should look inward. For instance, a governor was reported to have about 1,000 special advisers, with escalating cost of maintaining a fleet of vehicles. If huge size of advisers will necessarily translate into positive result, we do not expect such a governor to have problems about ideas that could make him generate funds to meet the government’s obligations.

    Moreover, some governors no longer travel by land, but in private jets around the country. There are other areas of reckless spending that suggest that allocation of money to the state is spent as if it is meant for the comfort of the governors at the expense of the others. A good example that needs to be discontinued is the huge money known as security vote that the governors collect and spend without accounting for it. The office of the first lady and inflation of contracts which some people say run into “hundreds and thousands of percentages” should also be stopped. After all, some of the projects for which inflated contracts are awarded are phantom projects, with many of them never executed.

    We agree though that things are not the same as when the governors began to pay the minimum wage, but in reality N18,000 is too low as a living wage in Nigeria today. So, to contemplate cutting it is the height of insensitivity. What the present economic situation calls for is rigorous thinking on the part of the governors in reducing the cost of governance. It is in time like this that we know imaginative leaders. The governors can get the laws amended so that they could free themselves from the stranglehold of the Federal Government in the tapping of the natural resources in their states.

    Moreover, since states are not equally endowed and standard of living varies from state to state, we wonder why all states must pay the same minimum wage.  Most certainly, it appears that the governors’ position in the reduction of minimum wage is largely unpopular, inhuman and should be discarded.

  • Minimum wage war

    Minimum wage war

    The declaration by the Governors’ Forum on why states may not be able to continue with the N18, 000 minimum wage has set them on a collision course with the organised labour. Tony Akowe in this report takes a look at the looming labour crisis

    Another labour crisis may be brewing if state governors have their way and get the rest of the country to acquiesce to their plea to scrap the N18, 000 national minimum wage.

    Of course, the reason the state governors mooted for their decision to seek a downward review of the minimum wage is due to the dwindling oil receipts.

    However, a cross-section of experts and analysts while ventilating their views on the purported plan to end the minimum wage, argued that a downward review at this point in time is calling for prolonged strike action which will no doubt cripple activities across the federation.

    “Even though many of the states have had to rely on a bailout fund from the federal government to pay salaries of workers, some of who are still yet to be paid, it is evident that the governors are not ready to improve on their internally generated revenue, but to go cap in hand every month to the federations account for hand outs to administer their states,” one of the analysts stressed.

     

    Mixed feelings over wage review

    Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari announced that due to the current state of the economy and the slide in prices of oil in the international market, they will not be able to continue the payment of the minimum wage.

    He said: “We resolved that we must look at ways to enhance revenue generation and at the same time look at ways to cut our overhead costs more especially the political office holders’ salaries and other overhead expenses. The situation is no longer the same 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 from oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil industry in the near future. We will diversify our economy in the area of agriculture and mining.

    “But at the same time, we should understand our situation where some of us (states) today are taking N100million take home  (monthly allocation) and then have salaries in particular of over N2billion to pay. We therefore agreed here to take this suggestion to NEC in our meeting.”

    The current national minimum wage which organised labour say is due for an upward review was a product of a long drawn battle between workers and government.

    Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who was part of the negotiation believes that it was out of place for any of the governors to question the wisdom behind the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage to workers.

    While some of the governors who claimed that they cannot pay the minimum wage argued that it was imposed on them by the federal government, Oshiomhole said it was not imposed on the government but rather it was a product of agreement between government and labour.

    Oshiomhole who is a former President of the NLC, said at a meeting of labour leaders in Abuja that democracy must not be run at the convenience of state governors.

    Apparently siding with his old constituency, the diminutive governor said: “I’m a labour man, I have been clear with my colleagues in seeking to find solution to the problem we face. We have to be holistic. We cannot at one hand question the wisdom behind the national minimum wage. I joined the NLC to protest to the National Assembly when they were going to amend the constitution to make the minimum wage a concurrent issue. I said workers have a stake in this democracy. They are the ones who could afford to march the streets and they march the streets for democracy.”

    For better emphasis, he said: “Democracy doesn’t have to run at the comfort or convenience of governors, ministers, and presidents. I believe that the issue in the economy hasn’t got to do with minimum wage. I have always also reminded my colleagues that the minimum wage was not imposed, it was negotiated and state governments agreed to it, the president signed it not under duress, there was no strike to compel the then president to sign it, he signed it voluntarily.”

    “I believe when you look at the minimum wage, as it is today at N18,000, it is less than 100 dollars. I think it is now about eighty dollars. Now, divide eighty dollars by 31 days, you will be getting about two point something dollars. Now we cannot argue that workers in Nigeria formal sector should not earn more than two dollars a day, I cannot subscribe to that because the heart of governance is the welfare of the people.”

    Expectedly, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba who was furious about the claim by the governors gave an indication that the workers will shut down the states if the governors attempt to reduce workers salaries, arguing that the N18,000 which the governors are claiming they cannot pay, is not enough to take the Nigerian worker home at the end of every month.

    He said “we reject in its entirety, Nigerian workers will not take it lightly. We are not the problem, rather we are the solution. The problem is that they have not been able to reduce the cost of governance. They should go and reduce their security votes. Let them also cut down on the number of their entourages. They must also be accountable to the citizens that voted them into power. “We are going to resist any attempt to tamper with the payment under any guise. Let them also note that the N18,000 was not allocated, it was negotiated through a tripartite process and it is a product of law that is even due for review. We are going to champion the review. Let us also put them on notice, if attempt is made to reduce, review or do anything outside the legal minimum of N18,000, which cannot even take us home, we are going to resist it. Nigerian workers will be mobilise to resist.”

    His counterpart at the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, Boboi Kaigama also shared the same sentiments.

    Like Oshiomhole, Kaigama explained that the N18,000 minimum wage was agreed at a tripartite meeting involving government at all levels, employers through Nigeria’s Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and the organised labour.

    According to the TUC President, “We are not only disappointed but also we fear for our future as responsible citizens of the country because we are daily confronted with policy summersaults as development strategies. To start with, we had thought that the very essence of setting up the Governors’ Forum is for them to meet once in awhile to discuss vital issues on how to move the country forward little did we know that we are absolutely wrong. “For issues like reduction of national minimum wage and sack of workers to be discussed at what is supposed to be a high profile meeting sends a wrong signal. We are disappointed that governors who preached love, peace and progress for all few months ago are now singing in a different tune. They have suddenly realised they can no longer pay $90 a month, which suggests to us that they are asking for a merger. How can they not pay N18, 000 but they can have a 10- car convoy, six for wife, pay themselves ridiculous pension and severance pay, have houses in Abuja, Lagos, Dubai, London, USA; send their children to primary schools in London and stash millions of pounds in their mansions. This is heartless and barbaric! We are disappointed because we had expected the Governors’ Forum to be angling about true fiscal federalism and how to harness the resources nature has bequeathed to every state. We have always made it known that the cost of governance is high, especially as every state depends on federal government’s monthly allocation. Why should the innocent pay for the looting and stealing of our leaders. If they cut down salaries, how do they want business to flourish when the purchasing power is already very low? It appears all the hype on “anti -corruption” is hereby laid to rest, as workers must now steal to survive.”

    One would have thought that the governors will think out of the box to explore the possibility of increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) through exploration of resources, albeit abundant ones in their vicinity to improve their state resources.

    The governors announced at the end of their meeting under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum that due to the state of the economy, they were no longer in a position to pay the minimum wage to their workers.

    Reacting to the claims by the governors, a nongovernmental organisation, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), accuse the governors of trying to increase the unemployment and poverty level in the country.

    The group’s Chairman, Debo Adeniran believes that such an action will result in large scale corruption in the public sector and lead to an increase in crime.

    He said the state governors should as a matter of priority, declare economic emergency in their states in order to remove unnecessary and irrelevant projects affecting wages in their respective states and not use the state of the nation’s economy as an excuse for reducing the minimum wage or downsizing their workforce.

    He said further that “even with the N18, 000 minimum wage, the salary of most average Nigerian workers cannot satisfy their immediate needs and which should not be so.”

    The states should also look inwards and find ways to harness the abundant human and natural resources that every state is blessed with. They should also endeavour to cut down on basic running costs and put a check on corruption and other practices that impact of their finance. It has often been said that the dependent on oil revenue is inimical to the economic growth of the country. Non-oil sectors of the economy should be harnessed.”

    Ango Abdullahi, a Professor of Agriculture and former Presidential Adviser on food Security believe that governors who cannot pay the minimum wage owe Nigerian workers an apology.

    While describing the claims as irresponsible, insensitive, embarrassing and unacceptable to Nigerians given the huge amount they and their retinue of aides pocket monthly, the former Ahmadu Bello University Vice Chancellor was quoted as saying that it was a thing of displeasure that governors, who were taking billions of Naira monthly under the guise of security votes, which they don’t account for, could wickedly refuse to pay their workers a worthless minimum wage of N18,000 monthly.

    Findings revealed that during the negotiation for the current minimum wage, some of the state governors had offered to pay far more than the N18,000 while others offered far less.

    It was learnt that Abia State under Theodore Orji  for example offered to pay N46,700, Kebbi State under Saidu Dankigari proposed  to pay N30,000, Imo state under Governor Ikedi Ohakim proposed N30,000 and Kwara state under Senator Bukola Saraki now Senate President proposed to pay N30,000.

    Also, Bauchi State under Isa Yuguda accepted to pay N16,585.50, the Federal Capital Territory proposed N25,000, Zamfara proposed to pay N15,000, Jigawa proposed to pay N20,800, Plateau proposed to pay N10,000, Anambra  N25,000 while Ebonyi proposed to pay N10,000. Akwa Ibom State proposed to pay N13,333.12 and  Kano State N11,022.17. This, however was before the tripartite committee agreed on N18,000 as the national minimum wage.

    Analysts believe that the over dependent on oil revenue and massive corruption in the system is affecting the ability of the states to pay living wages to workers. Investigations revealed that many of the states cannot generate enough revenue to augment what they receive from the federations account.

    At the recently concluded 21st Nigeria Economic Summit, participants agreed on the need to look inward and improve on their internal revenue, while blocking leakages in the system.

  • Minimum wage: NLC accuses governors of declaring war on workers

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Sunday that governors of the 36 states of the federation under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum have declared war on Nigerian workers by saying they were no longer in a position to pay the N18,000 minimum wage.

    In a statement signed by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC said the declaration by the governors was an attempt to frustrate efforts by organized labour to table a proposal for a review of the current minimum wage which was signed in 2011.

    The NLC said it was prepared to fight any attempt to frustrate improved workers’ welfare in the country, saying organized labour was ready to do battle to raise the living standard of Nigerian workers.

    The congress said: “The Nigeria Labour Congress is shocked by the statement credited to the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, that the N18,000 National Minimum Wage promulgated into law in 2011 was no longer sustainable because of the fall in the price of crude oil.

    “The governor who was speaking on behalf of his colleagues at the end of a meeting of the Forum also claimed that the National Minimum Wage was imposed.

    “We wish to make it abundantly clear that this attempt to reverse the National Minimum Wage is a declaration of war against the working people of this country, and we would have no alternative than to mobilize to respond to this act of aggression by the political class on our welfare.

    “For the records, the 2011 National Minimum Wage came into existence after almost two years of agitation and eventual negotiation by the tripartite committee of government (represented by both the federal and state governments), the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association representing other employers (in the private sector) and organized Labour.

    “This is in the best tradition of tripartite negotiation recognized and codified by the International Labour Organization. As organized Labour, we submitted a request for N52,000 and provided justification for it as the minimum wage which a worker and his recognized legal dependents needs to live a healthy life over 30 – 31 days in a month.”

     

  • NLC pushes for periodic minimum wage review

    • Seeks capital punishment for corrupt officials

    The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba said though about 95 per cent of the 36 states in the federation have so far implemented the minimum wage law, it should be reviewed every five years to take care of the  changing economic realities.

    He said this is necessary to avoid corruption among workers, arguing that when civil servants are poorly remunerated, they are most likely going to dip their hands into public till.

    Wabba who spoke at the weekend by phone, said despite the differences in the levels of compliance, the minimum wage law has been a successful story.

    He said: “Although the implementation of the minimum wage is not uniform, but, we can still say it has been a success.

    “For instance, in some states, they pay 70 per cent, while some pay 75 per cent. The implementation or increase in some states was also determined on the grade level. But the issue is that there is need for it to be uniform and there is also need for the review every five years. This is our proposal.”

    He identified corruption as the major challenge besetting the country, lamenting that it  had badly damaged the core of the country’s national existence. He added that the political leadership of the country must act decisively to take the country out from the edge of the precipice.

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to press it upon the legislature to tinker with the law to prescribe death sentence for state officials found to have embezzled public funds.

    He said: “Fighting corruption is crucial to our development; if everyone can shun corruption and use the available resources judiciously, Nigeria will be a better place for all.

    “If capital punishment can happen in China, India and South Africa, it should also happen in Nigeria; Labour will support whatever measure that will address  corruption in the country.

    “As organised labour, we firmly believe that the political leadership of our country must act decisively to get us out of the brink of disaster that greed and primitive accumulation through open looting of our commonwealth in the last six years, has brought us to.”

    He said most Nigerians had been deprived standard quality life due to massive corruption in the polity, adding that the organised labour would no longer watch the culture of impunity.

    According to him, the NLC is in full support of the establishment of anti-corruption courts to try corruption cases in the country.

    Wabba added that the Federal Government should ensure that all funds illegally taken from the treasury was traced and the perpetrators brought to book.

    He called for the strengthening of anti-corruption laws and the provision of stringent punishment for looters to serve as a deterrent to others, stressing that a situation where governors could not pay workers salary for months was worrisome.