The pursuit of a national living wage is not only an economic necessity but also a moral imperative that embodies the principles of fairness, dignity and social justice for the Nigerian worker, GLORIA NWAFOR writes.

The quest for a wage system that is sufficient to provide a decent living for workers and their family members is currently one of the most pressing issues facing the country.

The urgent need for a pay raise for Nigerian workers is no longer debatable, especially with more than 300 per cent in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), devaluation of the naira and increase in prices of goods and services, among others, while the minimum wage remains N30,000.

Experts are of the view that the pursuit of a national living wage is not merely an economic necessity, but a moral imperative.

They argued that this was crucial given the huge suffering that the citizens and workers are going through as a result of the economic policies of the government in the past few years.

More, importantly, they pointed at the vexatious issue of petrol price hikes under the guise of subsidy withdrawal when this administration took over on May 29.

They submitted to a national retreat for trade union leaders and members of the National Assembly committees on labour organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) with the support of Freidrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Uyo recently.

President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said the theme ‘Quest for a Living Wage in Nigeria’ is apt considering the urgent need to deliver a living wage to Nigerian workers.

The NLC chief said when workers can meet their basic needs, the nation benefits as businesses are revived and the economy thrives.

He stressed the need to develop strategies that would shape the future of work in Nigeria and protect the workplaces, emphasising that the retreat served as a platform for robust discussions and collaborative efforts towards a just and equitable wage system for Nigerian workers.

However, without a functional alliance between the trade unions and the legislature, achieving any meaningful results which includes a national living wage within the nation becomes difficult.

With the support and determination of the National Assembly, a National Living Wage Act can be passed that would not only expand the coverage reaching more workers but also increase the quality and quantity of the wage floor.

Already, the Federal Government through the Chairman Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Diket Plang, had assured that the committee and the entire senate would discharge themselves as the eye, skin and mouth of the Nigerian workers whenever the Bill on the Living Wage arrived at the National Assembly.

He pledged that the Senate and indeed, the 10th National Assembly under the chairmanship of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio would take every legislative action “towards ensuring that we bring to a stop, the practice of denying our workforce their deserved true wages.”

Plang, said in the face of excruciating and gloomy economic realities/challenges both in peculiar and common dimensions facing the nation, subsidy removal inclusive, the singular lifeline holding the nation up was the resilient spirit of the Nigerian skilled workers in production and service sectors.

According to him, at each turn when the Nigerian nation bounces back from real or threatened recession, it has always been due to the can-do positive spirit of the workers, who man the critical productive points of production and economy.

Illuminating the political economy of a national living wage, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said Nigeria cannot continue to be the poverty capital of the world, rather the goal should be to develop over time a dynamic and easily adjustable living wage mapping for Nigeria.

Differentiating a living wage from the minimum wage, he said the payment of a living wage offers a route out of working poverty.

He said it helps to partially address the problem of growing inequality and promotes the health, dedication and productivity of the workforce, thus promoting overall economic growth and development.

Ozo-Eson said that living wage payment forms an important pillar of the Decent Work Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Article 8.

Additionally, he said it contributes to enhancing the revenue base of the government while relieving pressures on expenditures on poverty alleviation and related programmes.

Citing some living wage methodologies and benchmarks, including global initiatives, he said that evolving a living wage mapping for Nigeria should include defining the basic needs basket, such as food, childcare/educational expenses, housing, healthcare and transportation among others.

Speaking about the role of legislation and the legislature, a Professor of Economics, Dafe Otobo, said that in legislating, the routine focus should be on the welfare of the people and the welfare of wage labour, capturing the cost of living, cost of living index, consumer price index (CPI), personal consumption expenditure (PCE), price index and the cost of living adjustments (COLAs).

Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said the country needs a productive workforce to drive productivity, stressing that one of the outcomes of productivity was good remuneration.

Expressing concern over workers’ welfare, he said the government should realise that the workers have to be alive and motivated to achieve the quantum of needed national growth.

He lamented that part of the hindrances for the government to pay a living wage was the lack of fiscal discipline.

“Everything fundamentally rests on revenue. You can’t spend what you don’t have. When you cannot account for the revenue you are generating, then it creates problems. But when you go through proper fiscal discipline and can block all wastages and loopholes that pave the way for corruption, you will realise you have sufficient money to pay the workers who are working. Whatever the circumstances, it does not stop the commencement of the negotiation of a new national minimum wage,” he said.

The President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Dr Tommy Okon, said:

“When a worker is paid a living wage and his take home has a meaningful consideration, you are now giving opportunity for the worker to save and when that happens, banks can have money to lend and if they lend, the informal economy would strive and when that happens, there would be job creation and productivity will be expected.

“Today, the inflationary rate has shown danger, so we should see how all segments of the economy can have the purchasing power so that the informal economy could strive.”