• Labour relaxes fray as activities gradually return to normal
• We’re not against Nigerian workers’ welfare, govt affirms
• Expert wants sanctions for non-payment of minimum wage
• Moghalu recommends N75,000-N100,000 as ‘ideal’

President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, directed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to come up with cost implications of the new minimum wage and present an affordable, sustainable, and realistic figure within two days.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made this known while fielding questions from newsmen at the State House, Abuja, after a closed-door meeting with the President, government representatives and the organised labour concerning the minimum wage negotiation.

This was as the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress announced they had relaxed the indefinite strike action, which began on Monday, for one week to allow progress in talks.

The announcement, which came after an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the two bodies, urged all affiliate unions and state councils to return to their respective workplaces immediately, while the negotiating team follows up on the government’s promise to increase the proposed N60,000 national minimum wage.

They said the reprieve was to allow the Federal Government to commit to an acceptable national minimum wage; take definitive steps to reverse the electricity tariff hike back to N65/kWh, and abolish the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into bands.

They added that the NLC and TUC remain committed to pursuing all necessary actions to protect the rights and welfare of Nigerian workers, even as they urged all to await further directives as negotiation continues.

Idris disclosed that Tinubu directed the Minister of Finance to present the new minimum wage figures which will form the basis of negotiation with the organised labour.

He said: “The President has just summoned a meeting of all those who negotiated on behalf of the Federal government, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The Minister of Finance was there; the Minister of Information, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, the Minister of Labour, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

“We were all there to look at all issues, and the President has directed the Minister of Finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have figures ready for negotiation with labour.”

The Minister of Information expressed the preparedness of President Tinubu to accept the committee’s resolutions with the organised labour, adding that the administration is committed to the welfare of Nigerians.

He affirmed the government’s concern towards ensuring balance in its commitment amid realities in the country.

“And let me say that the President is determined to go with what the committee has said, and he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians.

“Government is not an opponent of wage increase. But governors are always there to ensure there is a balance between what the government’s pronouncement is, and the realities on the ground. Therefore, we will work assiduously to ensure that whatever promise the government makes is one that will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.”

Idris said the President also directed the government representatives to work with the organised private sector and sub-nationals to achieve a new affordable and sustainable wage award for Nigerians.

“The President has given a marching order for all those who have negotiated on behalf of the Federal Government and all those who are representatives of organised private sectors, sub-nationals to come together to have a new wage award that is affordable, sustainable, and also realistic for Nigerians,” he said.

The minister added: “All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable, and also realistic.”

Following the suspension of the strike yesterday, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, expressed gratitude to Nigerian workers and the general public for their support in the struggle for improved living conditions.

When The Guardian visited government establishments including schools and hospitals after the announcement yesterday, most were still locked up. However, operations began immediately at airport terminals.

Meanwhile, the 36 state governors may pose a challenge to a new minimum wage that might be agreed upon this week.
As the tripartite committee on minimum wage resumed deliberations in Abuja yesterday, The Guardian was told that the governors are not interested in paying mutually agreed figures.

Many governors are pushing for separate negotiations at the state level; dependent on their ability to pay, inflation figures, and prices of food in states.

It was learnt that while the Federal Government was willing to up the minimum wage to N100,000, with another N40,000 as transport allowance, state governments proposed N48,000, while employers under the auspices of Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) proposed N54,000. Later, they decided to meet the Federal Government at N60,000.

But sources at the negotiation table in Abuja, yesterday, said the governors may frustrate the new wage upon completion of the negotiations.

A financial analyst, Tolulope Alayande, said for the minimum wage law to achieve its objective, its non-implementation must attract sanction, especially for state governors.

“The issue of minimum wage is mired in the kind of federation Nigeria runs. Can anyone be taken to court for prosecution on account of non-payment of minimum wage? Yes, as far as the law is concerned. Has any worker dragged his or her employer to court to enforce that? Not to the best of my knowledge.

“With the governors enjoying immunity, can they be compelled to implement the law? I don’t think so. From what I know, the Federal Government is not in the habit of not paying minimum wage. It is the governors that have the habit of not implementing minimum wage law because there is no sanction.”

Alayande argued that the culprits behind non-payment of minimum wage are state governors and not the private sector or the Federal Government.
He urged the organised labour to focus on institutionalising implementation of the minimum wage rather than the actual figure.

He said: “There are many state governments that are paying more than the N30,000 wage today because it appears to them that the wage is no longer realistic in their state. What has labour done to encourage such states?

“How many times did the NLC or TUC picket states that are not paying the national wage floor? Why have the NLC and TUC not explored the judicial option? How many state governments have been taken to court for flouting the national minimum wage in the past? These are the issues that the labour movement should address.”

Even with N100,000 minimum wage, using the N1,483 exchange rate, Nigeria ranks very low among African oil-producing countries.

Gabon pays the highest minimum wage of N376,500 per month. Equatorial Guinea comes second with N323,878. War-ravaged Libya pays N313,440, Algeria pays N226,400, Tunisia pays N199,573, Egypt, N194,700, and Ivory Coast, N188,250. Chad occupies the 8th position with N150,587, followed by Cameroon N105,106.

Congo, which Nigeria is struggling to displace, currently implements N94,947 as minimum wage while a fellow high-ranking oil-producing nation, Angola, pays a paltry N58,569.

Ghana occupies the 12th position with N38,768, followed by Nigeria’s current N30,000. Sudan comes last with N7,590.

Relatedly, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, blamed Nigeria’s low productivity on its minimum wage, even as he proposed a wage of between N75,000 and N100,000 as ideal.

He said: “There are not more than two, at most, three million civil servants in Nigeria. It is even more about what is paid in the private sector, to household staff, etc. All of this is why, all things considered, including avoiding a minimum wage that multiplies already ravaging inflation, I recommend a minimum wage of between N75,000 and N100,000.”