The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Wage

  • Labour to Senate: minimum wage should remain on exclusive list  

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have raised concerns over efforts by the Senate to remove the national minimum wage law from the exclusive list to allow state governments decide how much to pay their workers.

    Currently, the national minimum wage, which is on the Exclusive List, is determined by the Federal Government and has been pegged at N18, 000.

    In separate statements, President of the NLC Abdulwahed Omar and his TUC counterpart said the removal will unnecessarily expose Nigerian workers, especially, those in the low-income bracket with grave implications for security, productivity and national well-being, as most state governments if given the latitude, will pay wages as low as one thousand Naira per month in spite of the relative enormous resources available to them.

    “This fear is justified or underscored by the reluctance or refusal of some of them to implement the N18,000 minimum wage law. Even for some of them that implemented the law, it took a heroic struggle,” he said.

    Theyu said: “the question we ask when issues of this nature arise is: do Nigerian workers and lawmakers buy from different markets? The answer is “no”. How do we send our children to school? How do we pay our rents? How do we pay our fares to work, market, church, mosque, etc or how do those who are privileged to have a car fuel it? It is wrong for politicians to attempt to toy with the destinies of Nigerian workers.

     

     

     

  • Police target N100,000 minimum wage

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, has said N100,000 was being proposed as the minimum salary for the least police officer.

    He spoke at a lecture for police officers in Jos, Plateau State. He  Abubakar, who was represnted at the event by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Zone Four, Mr Mike Zoukomor, said: “The money you are being paid is not enough. That is why the police is working towards increasing the money.

    “We are doing our best to ensure that your morale is high. You must, therefore, put in your best at ensuring that the society is free of any form of crime.”

    He urged policemen to exhibit the highest sense of discipline and professionalism in carrying out their duties.

    “You must ensure that you do not extort money from members of the public and you must be polite in dealing with them as well.

    “If you are caught stealing or found taking hard drugs, you would be severely punished, because you are supposed to show good example.

    “Things like drunkenness will not be tolerated. Police officers must not be seen as drunks,” he warned.

    Plateau Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Olakpe, advised the officers and men to put into practice the advice of the IG.

    “The IG has told us that it is what you sow that you would reap. You must continue to work very hard and do the right thing,” he said.

    The commissioner promised that the men and officers of the command would continue to protect lives and property in the state.

  • Wage disparity in Oyo State public service

    Wage disparity in Oyo State public service

    SIR: The incessant agitation for the minimum wage by Oyo State Civil and Public servants is the fall-out of the age-long disparity in salaries and wages of workers in the state. The state government cannot claim ignorance of the fact the public and civil servants on the same Grade Level, same qualification(s), same year of entry of the service, same working environment earn different salaries at the end of the month.

    To cite an example, in the service of the local governments/ministries, a worker on Grade Level 08 step I in the Environmental/Health Department earns #84,382.87 monthly. His/her close door neighbour on the same salary Grade, in the same service of the local governments/ministries but in finance, works, agriculture, education earns #32,358 per month.

    His/her only crime for earning this abysmally poor remuneration was that he/she chose to be a professional engineer, accountant, town planner etc other than environmental/health officer!

    A teacher in the service of Oyo State government on Grade Level 08 step I earn #37415.56 per month. He/she is lucky; better off than his/her counterparts in the ministries/local government by 27.5%! His/her crime also for this poor salary was that he/she chose to display his/her skill in the primary/secondary school as a teacher in order that the state ranks better in education in Nigeria. He/she is supposed to have studied environmental health – “Wolewole” or any other course in the health discipline if he/she needs more salary, otherwise he remains poor for ever!

    The salary of those working in the polytechnic, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Colleges of Agriculture and Education are more staggering. And it is a fact that the workers in all places mentioned are being paid from the state government coffers. The consequences of this staggering disparity/lopsidedness are legion: One of them is brain (locally) in the education sector. Graduate teachers of Physics/Chemistry/English on Grade level 08 step I earning #37,415.56 per month in the secondary schools have avalanche of reasons to abandon the teaching of these core subjects, leave the students to their fate and opt for appointments in the Colleges of Agriculture and Education, Polytechnic as the case may be as administrative officers where they will only attend to students during registration of courses, checking of examination results or other trivial issues and smile home/to their banks with a whopping salary of #114,000 per month if they are on CONTEDIS 08 step I.

    This portends great dangers for the educational development of our youngsters who have been losing most of their brilliant and talented core subjects teachers to these greener areas. Can you blame those crop of teachers who can go the whole hog to bulldozer their ways out of the teaching profession to those better job areas, after all the same government pays the salary?

    Another danger posed by this disparity/lopsidedness in salary is that the public/civil servants are increasingly exposed to partisan politics which creates avenue for the workers to expose the weaknesses of the government to the opposition(the government -in -waiting)who may eventually cash-in on these issues for advantage. The increasing participation of the civil/public servants in partisan politics in recent times is a disturbing sign of things to come. However when you take a cursory look at the salary of these sets of public servants earning better salaries in Oyo State and juxtapose it with the present economic index in the country, honestly, it is not rocket science to conclude that it is in order. What one is advocating here is that His Excellency, Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi should be courageous in looking at the salaries of other categories of workers in the state and bridge the gap created by this apparent disparity/lopsidedness in order to engender joy of service and dignity of labour among all categories of workers in the state. The consequence of the unconcealed disdain with which the last administration of Otunba (Dr) Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala treated the workers in the state is well known to all of us.

     

    • Kunle Adesina

    Igboora, Oyo State.