The Nigerian Labour Congress and its affiliate unions have announced their readiness to commence an industrial action this week over the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to implement the new national minimum wage, which the president signed into law in April this year.
Labour leaders in Nigeria have held series of meetings with the government over the implementation of the N30, 000 minimum wageand going by the rhetoric of the union leaders, it is obvious that these dialogues and interactions with Aso Rock represented by Chris Ngige and senior ranking officials of the labour and employment ministry have yielded very little. Following the failure of negotiations and engagements, it now looks certain that labour would be going into the trenches with the authorities once again.
The labour officials have accused the government of insincerity, insensitivity and outright deceit following series of failed promises and the apparent unwillingness of the government to begin the implementation of the new national minimum wage as agreed by all parties.
After a lengthy meeting on the 10th of October with officials of the government represented by Chris Ngige, ministers of finance, budget and national planning, minister of state for labour, head of the civil service of the federation, head of the budget office, accountant general of the federation and several others, labour announced that the process of mobilising workers in Nigeria’s private and public sectors for full-scale industrial action had commenced.
SETTING THE STAGE
The labour leaders announced that workers at federal, state and LGAs would be involved in the strike billed to commence on October 17. According to the labour leaders, the strike “would cripple the nation’s economy.”
In states like Rivers, Osun, Oyo, Benue, Anambra and several other states, leaders of labour unions have already announced plans to join the industrial action as soon as the central union in Abuja gives the go ahead.
In addition to the aforementioned states, several other states are bound by the reason of their association with the NLC to also down tools and go home to “sleep,” until a resolution is reached.
The wider implication is that banks would be shut, NURTW would refuse to move commuters, airports would be grounded, radio and TV stations would be on partial shutdown and hospitals- except for compassionate reasons- would also be shut down.
IMPLICATIONS
Where does this leave the average Nigerian whose income is earned from daily work- bricklayers, masons, bus conductors, taxi drivers, food sellers in public places and those who rely on proceeds of their petty trade in public offices to survive?
Even as we contemplate what happens to the economy and minimum income earners in the likely event of an industrial action by the labour unions, we must spare a thought for what happens if the labour unions keep calm and allows the government to continue dillydallying.
Here are a few things we must have in mind as we dissect this minimum wage conundrum dispassionately:
1. Nigeria’s minimum wage is one ofthe lowest- even in Africa. At N18, 000 minimum wage ($49.32 using the prevailing exchange rate of N365 to $1), the average Nigerian worker earns far less than his peers from Algeria, Morocco, Angola, Ghana, Botswana and Egypt where the least paid workers in those countries earn $2, 145, $3, 680, $1, 625, $558, $652 and $732 respectively.
2. Get the picture clear now: while the average Nigerian worker earns $49.32 in one month, a man doing similar work in Algeria is paid $71.5 for a day’s job.
3. Interestingly, Nigeria- very much like Algeria- earns the bulk of her national income from crude oil and gas. How is Algeria able to effectively cater for the welfare of its workforce most competitively while Nigeria pays a pittance to the men and women who pass through intense daily grinds to grow the economy?
4. In states like Abia, Benue, Osun, Ekiti, Kogi, and several others, workers are owned for upwards of 12 months and most often- you find the governors of these states unapologetic and in fact, weaponing salary payment to make it easier to buy votes during electioneering.
5. Since the current N18, 000 minimum wage was signed into law by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010, the value of the naira has fallen by more than 200% (from N120 – $1 to N365-$1) making a real mess of the real value of the currency.
6. Inflation has also dealt the value of the currency a heavy blow as the prices of goods and services have astronomically shot up in the last few years with wider implications for the purchasing power of the average wage earner and the general standard of living.
7. Between October 2010 when the N18, 000 minimum wage became effective and today, the price of a 50Kg bag of rice has jumped from around N4, 500 to about N23, 000 today.
8. Cost of transportation, cooking gas, kerosene, petrol and rent have all shot up as business grapple with new economic realities. Sadly, the wage earner has no such leverage. He is condemned to the nominal figures stipulated in his contract.
9. The decline in the economic power of the average wage earner is the reason millions of them can no longer afford a decent meal for their families, pay rent or pay for their children’s school fees, etc.
10. The inability of today’s “take home pay” to take millions of Nigerian workers to the “bus stop” is accountable for what we see all over the place where many workers can no longer spend time with their families as they “hustle” to make extra income as okada riders, retailers of drug supplement, contractors or cab riders in the urban centres.
IS LABOUR LEADERSHIP PARTISAN?
The Nigerian labour movement has gone cold in the last few years and that can be attributed to the intrusion of the labour leaders into partisan politics. Most of the labour union leaders are allegedly on the payroll of politicians who allegedlybankrolled their elections and offered them multi-level support on a quid-pro-quo basis.
The workers kept quiet as the Buhari administration jacked up fuel prices by more than 70% in May 2016. The labour movement refused to protest the massive killing of Nigerians in several parts of the country by armed criminal groups and the refusal of the security agencies to do enough. The labour leaders went missing as Nigerians were killed in the last general elections. They refused to issue a statement condemning the desperation of politicians who see human lives as expendable commodities. The labour unions have refused to issue regular comments on the state of the nation with unemployment, inflation and poverty reaching sky-high limits.
Now that minimum wage is at stake and the labour leaders are already threatening fire and brimstone- the question many observers have continued to ask is: Does the NLC and its affiliate unions have what it takes to bite?
Tomorrow shall tell.
