Between Government And The N56,000 Minimum Wage Proposed By Labour

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, May 15, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, have jointly proposed N56, 000 as the new national minimum wage. This is up from the current N18, 000, which labour considers as grossly unrealistic in the face of present economic crunch.

In asking the Federal Government for a review, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said it is to ensure that workers earn a living wage that can sustain them for a 30-day period, adding that at the current rate, the purchasing power of workers has been greatly weakened.

According to labour, the new demand is also in line with an extant law which prescribes that workers' wages should be reviewed after every five years. In this regard therefore, the N18,000 minimum wage, which was adopted in 2011 when the exchange rate was N110 to a dollar, is long overdue for a review.

Factional leader of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, had reiterated that at the current exchange rate, no sacrifice is too much to liberate the Nigerian workers, who have borne the brunt of decades of bad governance.

THEWILL supports a review of the current minimum wage, which over time has been overwhelmed by galloping inflation and varied economic challenges. Since the contributions of workers, in both public and private sectors, are germane to the success of any government policy, they should be motivated through better pay so that public policies can be better actualized.

At the current wage, an average worker can hardly feed his or her family, let alone meet other necessities like clothing, children’s education and housing. In the last one year for instance, prices of foodstuffs and consumer goods have hit the roofs. We do not want the labour force to be forced into indulging in graft and other sharp practices just to get by. If they are pushed to that level, the country will pay even more than the N56,000 they are demanding.

Recent increase in the pump price of premium motor spirit, otherwise called petrol, has further worsened the plight of workers such that increased transportation cost is making some of them skip going to work. Beyond transportation fare, the increment in fuel price has robbed off on goods and services which the current minimum wage cannot afford.

THEWILL is aware of the argument that government is already overburdened by a huge wage bill nay recurrent expenditures which should not be made more blotted through wage increase. We are also aware of the contention that further increase in recurrent expenditure will translate to less funds for capital projects which is more beneficial to all than wage increase that favours only workers.

While we see the merits in the foregoing, if public office holders cut down on their outrageous emoluments and profligacy, we do not think the recurrent side of the budget will remain high even if the minimum wage is N80,000. In the same vein, if the ghost workers littering government’s payroll across all levels are weeded out, we are sure that paying the proposed minimum wage to its workers will not pose much difficulty for even a local government.

Therefore, government should do the needful to free up more funds with which to meet the workers demand. At a time when citizenry are accusing government of insensitivity in view of the recent hike in fuel price, it can douse the odium by increasing the minimum wage. For, we believe that when workers have more money to spend, traders, artisans will be more patronised, making the economy to be the ultimate beneficiary.

Howbeit, THEWILL believes that the workers themselves should have an introspection. It is not enough to ask for a raise in salary without using you output and productivity to prove that you indeed deserve a pay increase. We dare say that the dedication, zeal and professionalism are lacking in the way civil servants go about the job. Some of them do not only absent themselves from work at will, they usually leave their duty posts much earlier than the closing hour.

Labour must correct these lapses so it can indeed have the moral and persuasive platform on which to demand a national minimum wage of N56,000. We strongly believe that when civil servants go about their jobs with utmost passion and diligence, these coupled with their ingenuity will generate enough funds and revenue from which government can conveniently pay them their due.