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Tag: wages

  • Nigeria: Wages of sin

    The wages of sin is death”, says the Great Book. Empirically, we know that death is always preceded by some sort of weakness. Sin sets on a process of progressive weakening which ultimately ends in death.

    All of nature and all of history, as they concern us Nigerians, combined to give us a country that was meant and endowed to be prosperous and great in the world. Though the human agents, the British, who carved out that country and gave it initial structure, were manipulative, crooked and wicked in much of what they did, our country, as it sprang into tentative being at independence was nevertheless a potentially mighty entity eager and rearing to fulfill its awesome destiny among the countries of the earth. But then the power of sin set in – the power of unrestrained human will, the urge and resolve of some in the house to grab and engross what belongs to the whole household and to deprive the rest. As in all cases where sin strikes out to act, the urge to grab and engross and deprive others was needless. Sharing in order and mutual respect, our chances of prospering together were huge. But by thus setting in motion a process of orgiastic scrambling and wrangling, we have bruised every member of the household, generated a barbarous culture, and mindlessly pushed our country onto the path of sickness and death. Today, the sickness has advanced so far that the question uppermost on most of our minds is whether it is possible at all for our country to exist much longer.

    These days, we are all living in horror as we watch our country going through the dance of death – with every single index of national strength pulverized and decaying.  Greed, avarice and graft rule supreme over all institutions, all duty performances, and all inter-personal dealings. Hardly any Nigerian public official, high or low, offers any service to the public these days without first demanding bribes. Nigeria teaches and acculturates its citizens to despise truly productive enterprise, and to give their intellect and passion to hustling for shares from the bounties stolen from the national wealth.

    Security is the first benefit of citizenship of a country, but in the Nigeria of greed and graft, security has disappeared. The average Nigerian, if criminally abused or robbed, can no longer be sure whether it is safe to seek help from the police and the legal system. If the miscreant bribes the police and court officials enough (as is now the norm), the victim who seeks help from the law-enforcement agencies will only get himself into bigger trouble – and may need a lot of money to dig himself out.

    We are constantly hearing stories of military officers stealing weapons from the nation’s armouries for sale to criminals and terrorists, of funds meant for running military operations being criminally shared by military commanders, and of high military officers building or buying multi-billion naira estates. In the circumstance, the Nigerian military has lost all professionalism and all efficiency, with the result that we Nigerians feel helpless before the rampages of a rag-tag hoodlum gang like Boko Haram. From reports and experience, most Nigerians know that Nigeria’s secret service is a beehive of corruption within which even the most junior officers can quickly amass fortunes – from their contacts with public resources and with members of the public. This past week, each of these agencies of public safety (the police, the military and the secret service) scored a first in degradation and corruption in the history of human governance. Each of them, operating as if they are private entities by themselves and for themselves, and not publicly owned agencies, wrote letters to the nation’s electoral servants to say that they will not be available to give Nigerians security in the nationally scheduled, and all-important, act of voting to elect a new government – letters that, in a proper country, should qualify for charges of treason.

    The electoral commission, ludicrously called “Independent National Electoral Commission”, is well known and deeply despised by all Nigerians for what it is – a stink-pot of corruption and betrayal, an ever ready tool of bandits in power for distorting and stultifying the will of Nigerians at elections. This past week, some eminent Nigerians led by a former Vice-President of Nigeria (Alex Ekweme) hauled staggering accusations against INEC, to the effect that INEC has been engaged in a huge plot to rig the forth-coming presidential election. And, as of the time that these allegations were being aired, certain incredible materials were also circulating in Nigeria and abroad alleging a plot by some highly placed public officials and law-enforcement commanders to rig a recent election in one Nigerian state. Of course, given the sordid history of the electoral commission since independence, no Nigerian is seriously surprised or bothered by these allegations. These are the sorts of things that INEC has always done. Of course too, no authority in Nigeria (presidency, or Attorney General, or police) is expected to step forward to investigate these horrendously criminal allegations. For Nigeria, governance belongs in the mud pond of corruption and crimes.

    Finally, over this massive mud pond of corruption and crimes reigns the official whom we “elect” as president of our country. He is commander-in-chief, patron and rewarder of all processes of the corruption. That is the way the mess was designed and nurtured – constitutionally, politically and morally. In all essence, it is not fair to blame any particular president for these ills. I once said in this column that I agree with President Jonathan’s statement that he is not the source or cause of Nigeria’s mess. But it is fair to say that he came, he saw the mess, and he revelled in it – revelled in it more than any president before him. Of course, I would agree with the overwhelming majority of Nigerians at home and abroad that President Jonathan does not deserve to have one more term as our president, but I would not saddle him with the historic responsibility of plunging our country into the mud in which it is now gasping for breath.

    This sad story of Nigeria has a powerful lesson: If you belong to a household, don’t proceed to break down the moral fence protecting it – no matter your incentives and possible gains for feeling like doing so. The people who started at independence to disrupt and distort the fragile balance of Nigeria’s politics could never have imagined that the consequences of what they were starting then would ever be as bad as today. Today, nobody, no group, is benefiting from the horrors that have been concocted. All of us Nigerians, as individuals and nationalities, are losers –losers in prospect, losers in hope, and losers in image among the peoples of the earth. If Nigeria does finally drown in the mess which we have created, we Nigerians of the generations since 1960 to now will go down in the annals of human history as the incompetents and moral dwarfs who were handed a country with all the possibilities of greatness and who made only a mess of it. It is not a good load to bear in history.

     

  • Nigeria: The wages of impunity

    SIR: Recently, the Al-Shabaab the Islamic terrorist group in East Africa caused an outrage in Kenya on two occasions: the first was when a bus load of Kenyan  citizens was waylaid and 36 Christians were singled out and murdered in cold blood. The second incident took place late last November in a mining camp in the same country: while miners were soundly asleep, the same Al-Shabaab terrorists showed up and murdered dozens of Christians in cold blood. The terrorist said the deed was in retaliation for the Kenyan government’s participation in a combined military action to root out the terrorist group from that region. These two incidents led to the dismissal of the security chief as well as the resignation of the interior minister of that country.

    This is in great contrast to what obtains in Nigeria where we have a sit-tight Minister of Defence and the National Security Adviser who have refused to resign their positions despite the fact that they are clueless as to the best way to tackle the insurgency. Instead of resigning, they continue to give excuses for non-performance.

    Last October when the military launched a well co-ordinate attack on the Boko – Haram insurgents and were gaining on them, a cease-fire was inexplicably declared with a claim that the Boko Haram insurgents had agreed to negotiate for the release of over 200 Chibok girls abducted since last April. The group later denied any ceasefire deal with the government and the great price Nigeria paid for that ruse was the re-grouping of the sect to launch devastating attacks that led to the fall of Mubi and other towns.

    Up till today, those responsible for the so-called ceasefire deal with the insurgents never apologized to the nation for failing her neither did they take the honourable path of resigning their positions.a

    When the issue of the missing $20 billion came up and the NNPC could not give any satisfactory explanation as to how the money was spent, instead of resigning her position as the minister overseeing that parastatal, the lady had the temerity to go to court to stop the House of Representatives committee set up to investigate the matter!

    The same thing happened with the case of a  jet which the same minister was said to have appropriated ‘for her exclusive service and on which billions of naira was spent for the minister’s pleasure alone! That too has been swept under carpet as nobody is talking about the matter anymore.

    Also, last year, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, organized a recruitment exercise into the immigration service that turned out to be a nightmare, claiming not less than 19 lives of the applicants. There was an out-cry of condemnations and the call for the resignation of the minister. But the man sat tight! When integrity and honour are set aside and impunity and corruption mount the stage, the country’s image receives a battering in the comity of nations. When you have a president who does not seem to care whether his ministers are corrupt or not but all that matters to him is how to actualize his second or third term bid, the nation will continue to be a huge joke amongst other country of the world.

    Is the President displaying the all pervasive third world leadership syndrome that when one climbs up to that high pedestal, one loses one’s sense of reality and immerses oneself in fantasy until suddenly, the reality dawns on one-as happened to Blaise Campaore in Burkina Faso recently? When is the bubble going to burst in the face of our president? Is the President so reassured of the impregnability of Aso Rock and so convinced of his messianic role that he has failed to take into cognizance what the masses of this country are going through right now?

     

    • Steve O.Attah

    Lokoja

  • Mixed reactions trail removal of wages from Exclusive List

    Mixed reactions trail removal of wages from Exclusive List

    Mixed reactions have trailed the decision of lawmakers to expunge wages issues from the exclusive legislative list. While the  Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are against the move, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) sees nothing wrong with it, TOBA AGBOOLA writes.

    Attempts by the National Assembly (NASS) to remove wage-related issues from the exclusive legislative list and put them on the concurrent legislative list in the on-going fourth amendment to the 1999 Constitution, have been greeted by mixed reactions.

    The organised labour, under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),  Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) have perfected plans to resist what they described as an act of treachery to further drive the Nigerian workers to the extreme and pave the way for all forms of violent reactions.

    While the TUC, last week,  moved to Lagos to perfect its onslaught against the NASS, the leadership of the NLC converged in Abuja to fine tune strategies to thwart the move.

    NLC’s President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar called on the whole workers in the country to be red-alert  over the attempt by what he called “political hawks” to take food from their mouths. Omar, who insisted that the battle must be won added: “We at  the Congress see the removal of Wages from the Exclusive List as an act of treachery masterminded by conservative governors and their cohorts in the NASS, which will do the polity no good.”

    Omar warned that the consequences that would befall the nation’s economy would be unimaginable because of the decision of the NASS on minimum wages. He said: “We advise the lawmakers to hearken to the voice of reason and the voice of the people by urgently retracing their steps because the consequences of their action could be dire for the nation.”

    Its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, also stated that the treacherous decision was masterminded by conservative governors. “We wish to state in no uncertain terms that the Congress will mobilise its members to resist this move,” he said. Ozo-Eson, who argued that the minimum wage laws are in force in approximately 90 per cent of countries in the world today, emphasised that Congress will not be cowed by the remaining 10 per cent of Nigerians opposed to the laws.

    Its Deputy President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, while paying tribute to the House of Representatives, that did not contemplate removing wages from the Exclusive List, challenged the Senate to be ready for actions from the labour movement. “We recall that last year, our national campaign and mobilisation on this subject matter was suspended at the instance of the leadership of the Senate, which promised to revisit the issue now that they are better informed. “It is also worth recalling that the just concluded National Conference retained wages on the Exclusive List in deference to argument in favour of putting it on the Concurrent List,” Ajaero said.

    In the same vein, the TUC’s President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, stated that the attempts by some elements within the Upper House to truncate the economic stability of the nation, needs swift mass action. He said TUC is worried that the Senate is feigning ignorance of the principle and concept of the minimum wage as practised in decent societies all over the world. Kaigama, who argued that the timing of the Senate’s decision was so close to the preparation for general elections next year, saw it as an attempt to provoke a national industrial crisis. He warned that unless the Senate wisely reverses its decision, Nigerian workers would not hesitate to resort to that option.

    In Kaigama’s words: “We have explained as often as necessary that the basic rationale for the fixing of a minimum wage is to ensure that employees, particularly the unorganised and unskilled, are not exploited by their employers to the extent that their pay becomes so low that it creates a pool of the working poor. The Senate’s position will doubtlessly encourage the state governments to start paying starvation wages to their workers, whereas the current minimum wage of N18,000 cannot even meet the immediate needs of the poor masses. This is sure to heat up the polity and lead to predictably, unsavoury consequences.”

    However, NECA disagrees insisting that there is nothing wrong in the decision of the lawmakers to move the minimum wage issue to the concurrent list. According to its Director General, Mr Segun Oshinowo, the ability to pay by employers, whether as government or as a private sector enterprise, is a key factor in employment relationship and sustenance of industrial harmony.

    He said: “We commend this bold initiative by the NASS, as this is the right thing to do. It is, however, important for it to explain how all this will work out so that the state governments would not walk away with the belief that they would not be bound by the National Minimum Wage as and when the Federal Government legislates on this.”

    He said as the voice of private sector employers, NECA equally have an interest in the issue. He stated there is need for everybody to be consistently reminded that Nigeria is operating a federal constitution, which ordinarily should ascribe significant power and responsibilities to the federating units, including the right and power of the component units to define and determine the minimum wage. He said NECA therefore, does not see anything wrong in the intention of the lawmakers to move minimum wage to the concurrent list.

    Deputy Speaker/Chairman, House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Amendment, Emeka Ihedioha, last week, tried to clarify the status of the issue in the constitution amendment by insisting that labour has not been removed from the Exclusive Legislative List.

    He said it has become necessary to clarify that the conference report of the Constitution Review Committee recently adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives did not remove labour from the Exclusive Legislative List.

    According to Ihedioha, the Senate had earlier put Labour on the Concurrent List but the House retained it in the Exclusive List. He stressed that during the harmonisation of the reports from the two chambers, the Conference Committee adopted the House version and retained labour on the Exclusive List.

    He added that both the Senate and the House of Representatives have now adopted the Conference Committee Report, which retained labour on the Exclusive Legislative List because “we are at a loss as to where the false and misleading information on this matter emanated from,”.

  • ‘Increasing wages demand stifling food production’

    The envisaged growth in food production could be hampered by increasing demand for wages by farm workers, an expert, Prof Abel Ogunwale has said.

    While he was not against improved wages for farm workers, Ogunwale, a consultant for the World Bank, noted that inadequate funding was not helping farmers to broaden the production structure which could help them earn more from their farms to pay better wages.

    He explained that many farmers were operating from few acres of lands, warning that this does not support the application of science and technology to upgrade agricultural processes to raise productivity.

    At the small scale level of farming operated by most farmers, Ogunwale reiterated that there no way they will be able to pay living wages, adding that most of them will be forced to reduce acreage to be able to meet increasing demand for better wages currently the trend in the industry.

    This, according to him, is affect food production with few aging farmers willing to receive small wages and younger workers leaving the industry because of poor remuneration to take up commercial motor cycle riding in the cities.

    He noted that farmers would have to grapple with high cost of production caused by increasing wages demand and other challenges  Calling for improved funding of agriculture, Ogunwale noted that the government can only achieve economic transformation through the sector, based on higher investment, faster productivity growth and production processes to become increasingly competi

  • Wages of National Assembly overreach

    Wages of National Assembly overreach

    Last week, the spat between Abdularasheed Maina and the National Assembly finally hit the home stretch. On Thursday, a reluctant President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to issue a directive to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Alhaji Isa Bello to commence disciplinary action against the embattled chairman of the Pension Reforms Task Team (PRTT). An Abuja court also removed the remaining obstacles setting the stage for his possible arrest.

    From the look of things, the prospect of being hauled before the self-appointed magistrates at the Red chamber would seem a far worse prospect than the civil service noose of possible dismissal for absconding from duty.

    Check out the rules of the Civil Service to find out why the latter option would be preferable. It is no accident that the civil service is described as the bastion of due process. There, anything goes! Whereas some members of the political class enjoy the privilege of immunity – (whether conferred or not), the civil service has something of an equivalent in their turgid rules of General Orders and due process which comes close to making their class invincible. The point may have been missed by the distinguished senators in their self-righteous anger. That may yet prove fatal to their cause(s) in due time. And trust Maina; he should know one or two tricks in the GO to make things work his way! Had the distinguished Senators realised this early enough, it’s mostly likely they would be wary of starting a war they could never hope to finish!

    Now, let’s get back to where the hoopla started from. Sometime in March last year, the Senate committee on Pension held a public sitting. In the course of that exercise, a Chief Superintendent of Police in the Police Pension Office, Toyin Ishola, accused Maina and his PRTT of fraudulent activities.

    He told the committee that the task team, headed by Maina, “unilaterally opened three accounts in different banks without recourse to extant financial rules and approval from the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Minister of Finance”.

    He claimed that one of the accounts domiciled at the Abuja Central Business District branch of Fidelity Bank, operated by the younger brother of the embattled Maina had a fixed amount lodged with monthly interest of over N100m. Another N3bn was said to have been deposited in UBA with no proper documentation. The PRTT boss was also acused of spending N240m on the biometric exercise of 20 retirees.

    As it turned out, that was only a tip of the mountain of scam. The Senator Kabiru Gaya-led panel would later discover from the records of the Accountant General of the Federation, huge discrepancies between pension releases and the actual funds spent totalling N195 billion.

    Could the Senate have handled the Maina saga better? Note that the issue here is an alleged scam in the pension office – not a contest of egos.

    Let’s start with the Senate inquiry. I do not think anyone questions the powers of the Senate to undertake any inquiry under the sun, more so from the official of an institution charged with the onerous responsibility to administer the pensions. Indeed, anyone that has followed the probe of the PRTT could not have failed to recognise the deliberate stone-walling and open defiance of the authority of the parliament from the government appointee, in this case Maina. Agreed, it comes with the territory that the subject of an investigation will try stall for time. In the case of the PRTT boss, his overall conduct somehow gave him out as an individual with something to hide.

    But so also is the sack order by the Senate on Maina a case of legislative overreach. Obviously, the Senate could not draw the line between the disrespect shown to the institution by Maina (a misdemeanour) and the crime of heist said to have been committed. Whereas the Senate may impose punishments in a manner it deems fit and consistent with its rules in the case of the former, the punishment for crime is altogether a different matter.

    Was the President right when he artfully parried the demand for the big stick by going for a more probable offence of AWOL governed strictly by the applicable rules of the service? Whether those baying for Maina’s blood recognise the presidential directive as face-saver or not, it seems unlikely that they will have the final settlement on their terms anytime soon – that is, if ever they will. In any case, only the high minded Senate could have contemplated the summary trial and sentencing of a public officer without reference to applicable rules of engagement. What the President did was find a way out of the dilemma even when it came by way of substituting the serious charge of stealing with the lesser charge of AWOL at this point in time. As it is, the prospect of administrative punishment, which again is most likely to be contested in courts, seems the price the nation would pay for what is said to be a crime of heist.

    Earlier, I raised the question of what the Senate could have done differently. The answer seems obvious: the Senate ought to have called in the anti-graft bodies the very moment it sniffed crime. After all, the institution is no court of law; and no matter how painstaking its efforts at fact findings are, the exercise cannot substitute for a due process of trial in the courts. The drama of Maina-chase, other than stoke excitement across the land, has neither advanced the cause of institution-building nor offered a pathway to restitution. And, given the judiciary’s unknowable ways, it would be dangerous to speculate on the direction in which the pendulum will finally swing.

    And the lesson for all concerned? There can be no wrong path to a good intention.

    Is the matter therefore settled? I do not think that it has even started. N195 billion seems too hefty to vanish without trace. Now that the drama has ended with the Presidency officially declaring their man AWOL, it may well institute its own inquiry to determine where the money went. That should offer some balm to the sore egos of our distinguished Senators.

  • N7.5M UPAID WAGES CAS queries Ismaily over Owoeri

    N7.5M UPAID WAGES CAS queries Ismaily over Owoeri

    JOHN OWOERI has reportedly completed his switch from CAF Champions League semi-finalists Sunshine Stars to Warri Wolves. However, he has unfinished business with his past Egyptian club Ismaily.

    According to Ismaily Online , the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland has written Ismaily to respond to a complaint that Owoeri is being owed $50,000 (about N7.5m) in unpaid entitlements. The club must respond to that query on or before November 15.

    It would be recalled that Owoeri unilaterally terminated his contract with Ismaily citing the club’s empty treasury and the security situation in Egypt.

    He would later travel to the United States to test with a plethora of clubs in the MLS – Columbus Crew, Montreal Impact, Kansas City and Chivas USA – but talks collapsed after he failed to produce his International Transfer Certificate.

    In FIFA’s earlier ruling last March, authority was given to Owoeri to terminate his contract and leave the club as a free agent.

  • Mikel, Osaze’s wages to be frozen

    Mikel, Osaze’s wages to be frozen

    The take home package of Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi, teammate Victor Moses, West Brom ace Osaze Odemwingie and other Nigerian players in the English Premier League (EPL) may not be increased for some time to come, following ongoing discussions by English club owners to reduce expenditure and increase profit.

    A communique on the talks which is featuring Chelsea owner Roman Abrmovich and other EPL bosses is expected to be out November 15 according to the British tabloid, Daily Mail.

    The new proposal is thought to be a reaction to the impending £5billion Premier League TV deal, which the owners apparently want a bigger slice of.

    According to reports, the new rules would not allow teams to increase their overall wage budget by over five per cent a year.

    It is also alleged that the club chiefs want teams to be forced to break even.

    West Ham chairman David Gold reportedly wants to go a step further and take away points from teams that don’t.

    ‘We need to regulate spending, reduce debt and ensure profit — and quickly,’ Gold told the Huffington Post.

    ‘We have to stop clubs running up debt or we’ll have an even more desperate situation.

    ‘We can’t have clubs running with large percentage of debt against their turnover.’

    Other top bosses including Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour and the Glazer family, who own Manchester United, are all thought to be keen on the new proposals.

    The new rules would run in conjunction with UEFA’s fairplay legislation, which will also try to curb club spending.

    Premier League clubs had a total outlay of £1.5bn on footballer wages in 2010-11, which was nearly three quarters of their total income.

  • Plateau pupils caught in wages crisis

    Plateau pupils caught in wages crisis

     Plateau State pupils are roaming the streets. Weeds are taking over their schools’ premises because of the protracted strike (now six months old) by their teachers over the minimum wage. YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU examines the causes and effects of the crisis.

    All is not well with the teaching profession in Plateau State. Teachers have spent more time outside the classrooms in the past five years. This is largely due to frequent strikes by them over welfare issues.

    At the moment, teachers in state-owned primary and secondary schools have been out of the classrooms since May, due to the strike declared by local government workers’ union – the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Plateau State chapter. All appeals to get them back to work failed as they insisted that something concrete must be done about the 18 per cent minimum wage.

    The Executive Chairman of the Plateau State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs Lyop Mang, insists teachers have no business embarking on strike because they are enjoying the best times in their career under the administration of Governor Jonah David Jang.

    Nevertheless, the state has witnessed more strikes during this administration than in the past.

    Jang himself acknowledged this fact recently while addressing stakeholders in the Government House in Jos.

    He said at the meeting: “There is no governor in the history of the state that has taken care of workers’ welfare than I have done, yet no administration had witnessed the number of strikes witnessed under my administration. Something must be wrong and I want to know.”

    In his five years as governor, Jang has trained 52,122 teachers at various professional levels between 2007 and 2012; implemented 27.5 per cent teachers’ salary allowance as well as employed 500 teachers of English and Mathematics in secondary schools.

    On assumption of office in 2007, Jang was said to have paid a backlog of teachers’ leave and transport allowances to the tune of N636 million, owed two years before his tenure. The governor regularised payment of teacher’s salaries by ensuring promotion of teachers are released timely.

    To improve the school environment, Jang renovated 175 primary schools, constructed over 500 classrooms, and distributed about 50,000 plastic chairs/desks. He established 19 new nomadic schools in seven LGAs while 1,395 sets of dual desks, seven tables and 20 pieces of universal furniture were provided for physically-challenged learners.

    Also, over 400,000 copies of English, Mathematics and science textbooks with additional 290,000 other books were distributed to schools. The state ensures the 1,033 schools receive instructional materials yearly.

    In addition, 67,264 registers, lesson note books, weekly dairies and assorted books were distributed to schools. Most importantly, the governor purchased 34 motorcycles for the 17 LGEAs.

    All these were possible after the convocation of several education summits between 2007 and 2009.

    However, the current strike is the result of a disagreement over the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage introduced by the Federal Government in 2010. The government told workers it would pay 50 per cent of the wages initially and would increase to 100 per cent if the allocation from the Federal Government increases.

    At the end of Jang’s meeting with the stakeholders, it was agreed that a committee of elders be constituted to mediate between the aggrieved workers and government for an amicable settlement of the disputed wage. The high profile committee is chaired by a former military administrator of the state, Rear Admiral Samuel Bitrus Atukum (rtd).

    The elders committee held several meetings with the striking workers. The issue of minimum wage was resolved and the government reached an agreement with NULGE and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) to pay 55 per cent of the N18,000 minimum wage.

    However, schools cannot resume because NULGE wants salaries owed during the five months strike paid.

    Its state Chairman, Emmanuel Loman said:“A lot of meetings have been held, but these workers have continued to stand in the way of amicable resolution. The elders’ committee has even gone as far as promising the workers additional five per cent to the 50 per cent they were originally offered, which the workers rejected. They insisted on 100 per cent payment of the minimum wage which we chairmen cannot obviously afford to pay due to continued reduction in our monthly allocation.

    “Everyone has been expecting the workers to call off the strike but they came again insisting that the salaries of the last five months of the strike should be paid before they call it off. This, again, is another stumbling block because we operate on “no work no pay rule”. This is a rule NULGE is aware of long before now.”

    The issue of no-work-no-pay rule is not a new policy in Plateau State. Medical workers who went on strike for months resumed work without any payment of salary arrears. The same condition applied to teachers of state-owned tertiary institutions who were on strike last year.

    However, teachers insist that their welfare suffered a severe set back under the Jang administration, saying renovations and construction of new classrooms does not translate to improved salaries.

    Joel Mathew, a primary school teacher in Jos North LGA said: “The present government deceived us at the early stage. The governor cleared the backlog of salaries owed us by past administration and we applauded him then not knowing that he will be the worst. Now, it is clear to us that the governor was not sincere with the welfare of the teachers.

    “How can you say you care for teacher’s welfare, yet you allow them to go on strike due to your failure to treat us like our counterparts in other states? For instance, the latest reason for our strike, the governor agreed to pay the minimum wage, but we are on strike because he failed to implement his own agreement.

    “A governor that claims to have the best welfare for teachers will allow teachers to be on strike for five good months. What sort of welfare package is that?” queried Ayuba Gyang, a teacher in Riyom LGA.

    Another teacher from Jos South LGA, Laraba Joshua, also claimed the governor’s act of solidarity at the beginning was deceptive.

    “This government does not care if Plateau children go to school or not. We are highly disappointed because Governor Jang at the initial stage declared a state of emergency in education in the state and raised our hope; we thought he was going to do something serious. He now appear to be the worst governor in education because if he can allow teachers to be on strike for six months, it shows he does not care for education in the state”

    Yohana Pam, a teacher in Jos North had this to say: “I’m currently looking for a job. We are not complaining about conducive working environment; we have that already but the governor should know we deserve better pay like teachers of other states.”

    However, Mrs Mang said teachers were involved in the strike out of sympathy not because the government has not done enough.

    She said: “The truth about this strike is that we don’t have a problem with our teachers in terms of provision of welfare and conducive working environment. The present governor is second to none in the country in funding of education. My teachers are on a sympathetic strike because they fall under NULGE union; it is NULGE that is on strike here, not NLC. But NLC has to join in solidarity; this is the truth.”

    She went on:“The issue of salaries of local government workers has nothing to do with state governor because local governments receive their allocation directly through the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs

    “Education has been enjoying a lion share in annual budget in Plateau State since the state governor declared a state of emergency on its educational sector in 2007. The records are there to show and the projects are there for all to see.”

    Mrs Mang said to avoid such unnecessary closure of schools, the Federal Government should allow SUBEB to handle teachers remuneration.

    “This is why I am of the suggestion that if the Federal government is interested in an uninterrupted education system, teachers should be removed from government ministries and handed over to SUBEB all over the federation, so that they will not be forced to join general strikes by NULGE as we are witnessing.”

    Mrs Mang also faulted the insistence that the government should pay the workers for the months they were on strike.

    “If workers who refused to go to work for months are asking for salary arrears, who will pay school children that has been loitering at home within the period? Who will pay parents who have lost loved ones as a result of the strike? I don’t think their demand is reasonable.

    “I, therefore, appeal to the workers to drop their pride and resume work. I want them to consider the fact that the effect of children not going to school due to strikes will be on us adults because if they turn out to be criminals tomorrow, all of us, including these teachers, will face the consequence of mass illiterate children turned criminals.”

    So far, there is the state will resume soon even as the first term is already half way. At the moment, private schools are having a field day in Jos, exploiting frustrated parents who could not afford to keep their wards at home because of the prolonged strike.

  • The wages of obduracy

    The wages of obduracy

    The nation ought to see itself in debt of gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan for terminating Project Cure – Sanusi’s obsession with finding cure for ringworm when a more malignant cancer is indicated. There are several reasons why Nigerians ought to be grateful for the mercy intervention by the President.

    First, it seemed unlikely that the “curers” would ever come to agreement with majority of citizens on the need, or lack thereof, for the curious therapy. The situation is hardly helped by the perception of the CBN as an arrogant, insular institution that sees itself above the common herd; certainly not one to be swayed by the weight of public opinion.

    Secondly, never, it seems, has a therapy proven to be so divisive; it seems to have verged to the point of constituting a major distraction both to the administration and to the apex bank itself. With due respect to the assumed merits as sold by the apex bank, Nigerians seem to have convinced themselves that the unique selling point simply fell short – and miserably too – on the list of items that should constitute the priority for the bankers bank.

    Furthermore, it was one instance in which the apex bank would seek to re-write the rule of economics –a science that prides itself as one involving choice among competing possibilities. When majority of Nigerians appeared united in their rejection of the restructuring, the CBN threatened a fiat as if it was itself not a creation of statute. Not once or twice did I hear the CBN maintain that the planned exercise was not open to debates since it claimed the measure not only had the backing of the law, but had the approval of the President.

    The President’s intervention, in my view, may have in fact saved the CBN from itself. Unfortunately, one of the unintended consequences of the Sanusi obduracy is the current situation in which a reconsideration of the entire notion of the apex bank’s so-called autonomy is being called up.

    Now, I know a throng out there who would argue that this is no more than a knee-jerk, or if you may, reflex reaction to the Sanusi exuberance. They are probably right just as I would argue that one needed not to cut the nose to spite the face.

    But the question of foreclosing the debate on the future of the apex bank, particularly the notion of its autonomy belongs in a different realm. Agreed, there are those who would rather see things from the narrow prism of current experience – something of a punishment for the proverbial lone bull raging in the financial house’s china shop, an individual whose abiding love for hugging controversies would ordinarily appear as incompatible with the conservative traditions of the apex banking institution. But clearly, there are other Nigerians who see in the debate, a great opportunity to realign the rules of the apex bank, to make its processes more transparent and to ensure a more accountable institution.

    This is where the current concern about the apex bank’s autonomy comes in. What is autonomy anyway? I understand the word at two levels. One is operational; the other is best described as administrative and procedural.

    The former is what needs to be preserved. Indeed, I have not heard anyone argue that MRR or whatever monetary policy instruments the apex bank may chose to adopt be made a subject of extraneous oversight. Indeed, its capacity to respond to monetary policy challenges would probably need strengthening, not curtailment.

    Outside of the monetary policy terrain however, there should be no such thing as absolute autonomy. A most vivid illustration is the requirement for the CBN to secure written approval from the President in any plan to restructure the naira. Coincidentally, I have not quite seen anyone argue that this requirement is neither necessary nor desirable. While those pushing for absolute autonomy do not bother to make the fine distinction, it seems to me a part of the deliberate muddling of facts to reinforce a particular line of argument.

    The CBN Act of course says that the institution should be sacrosanct. That is precisely the issue. It needs not be. Why – because to allow it, is to make our CBN the most powerful one in the world.

    I need to illustrate. Up till August 2009, it was doubtful that many Nigerians knew how powerful the CBN governor is. After the unprecedented sacking of the executive management of the then ailing banks, the situation would change. I couldn’t recall Nigerians expending much energy debating the action against the bank chiefs whose criminal lapses nearly brought the entire financial system to ruin. If my memory serves me right, most Nigerians readily agreed that the cups of the delinquent bankers were already full and running over.

    But then, Nigerians would become divided over a number of issues. I cite two examples.

    First, was the unilateral takeover of the banks without recourse to the club of existing shareholders. For a club not adjudged to have been culpable in bringing ruins to their institutions, the class was to suffer double jeopardy from the unchallengeable powers of the CBN. Aside being forced to wear the label ‘guilty by association’, their situation would be compounded with the denial by the apex bank of their right to recapitalise their institutions.

    The second example is the apex bank’s unilateral injection of nearly N620 billion of bailout money from its till. Compare the intervention for instance, with the United States’ Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) –put in place by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008 to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions as a means of strengthening the country’s financial sector in the wake of the global credit meltdown.

    Or even the takeover of the US troubled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the wake of the sub-prime lending crisis. Both interventions were undertaken by the US Treasury (the equivalent of our finance ministry) as against the Federal Reserve (the apex bank); in both instances, the relevant laws were passed by the US Congress.

    The argument as to whether the nation can afford an institution that stands as a law unto itself is one that hasn’t been made convincingly by those making the case for the retention of the powers of the CBN as it is. It is not so much about hanging anything on the neck of the current helmsman whose temperament seems to have exacerbated the issue. Rather, it merely acknowledges the need to learn from our recent past even as the nation struggles to chart a new course in financial rectitude. Global best practices or not, can anything be wrong with evolving a home-grown solution to our problems?