Minimum wage: NLC fumes at governors’ move to hijack negotiations

• Govs not against living wage, Oyebanji clarifies.
• Says no state can pay increased minimum wage without increased earnings
• SSANU: Workers not happy with Tinubu’s delay
• I earned less than N400,000 monthly salary as Speaker, says Dogara

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has frowned at the “unconstitutional” and “treacherous” move by state governors to “hijack” national minimum wage negotiations.

Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, who clarified NLC’s staunch refusal to let governors influence determination of the minimum wage, said: “The process for arriving at a national minimum wage comprises three parties, which are: labour, employers, and government. The government is currently playing a dual role of being an employer as well .

“Governors have been part of this process. And for some of them to want to pull out from the national team (under the government) will be injurious to the whole process and an act of treachery and betrayal, because they know fully that they have been part of the government team. It is tripartite. They do not have the constitutional right to hijack it.”

Upah noted that the major issue in the minimum wage negotiation with the government is “prioritisation and political will.” He said Nigeria had adhered to this process since 1961 and described the governors’ desire to take over the negotiation as “completely irrational.”

He warned that placing labour on the concurrent list could lead to a multiplication of laws, making it difficult for investors to navigate the legal landscape.

“Labour was put on the exclusive list to ensure a certain level of uniformity in the administration of labour laws, and it makes it a bit easier for investors, so they don’t have to deal with multiple laws when dealing with labour issues,” he said.

Upah, who spoke in an interview on Arise Television, yesterday, also noted that there could be potential socio-economic consequences if states were allowed to set their own minimum wages.

He said: “If you put labour on the concurrent list, some states will pay as low as N5,000, which will be a result of the arrogance of power that labour is nothing. That has both socioeconomic consequences, issues of security, livelihood, and citizen decency.”

Upah highlighted the NLC’s commitment to its protests and the lessons learned from past negotiations. He said: “First and foremost, it will be unfair to say we did not follow through with our protests. We have been believing in our leaders. The NLC has been trusting our leaders in this country, but in the end, trust was misplaced, and we’re learning our lessons today.

“We trusted our administration, and that’s why we went back to the negotiation table at that time.”

The federal government has warned the NLC and organised labour that a high minimum wage could lead to high retrenchment in both the civil service and private sector.

However, Upah dismissed this warning as “an act of blackmail.” He said: “We have responded to that by saying it is an act of blackmail. We gave our statistical figures, saying on the issue of capacity that the money they declare that they share at FAAC moved from N700 billion to N1.2 trillion.

“The issue is prioritisation and political will. Labour is not being difficult; we’re being reasonable. We are aware that when you create communities of the working poor, there are consequences.”

He criticised the governors driving the agenda to change the minimum wage negotiation process. Upah called them a “vocal minority” and accused them of acting in bad faith.

“Governors that are driving this agenda should come off their high horse. They are a vocal minority, and we know the arrowhead,” he added.

HOWEVER, Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, maintained that state governors, under the aegis of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), were not against Nigerian workers earning a living wage.

Oyebanji made the clarification at the 7th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday. He explained: “If there is a minimum wage today without a concurrent increment in what we are earning, no state can pay.

“That is the conversation we are having, that look, we want to give you a living wage, but we must look at what comes to the states; and whatever is in the best interest of the states and the workers, we will do.”

According to him, what the NGF is clamouring for is fiscal federalism that would culminate in the ability and capability of individual states to pay. He said since no state in the federation wants to engage in retrenchment of its workforce, it is incumbent on individual states to determine what they can afford without an eventual downsizing of the workforce.

Oyebanji said: “The NGF is not against the living wage. No governor is against the minimum wage. But what we are saying is that it must reflect fiscal federalism, ability and capacity to pay.”

THIS came as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) expressed sadness over the lingering delay on the part of President Bola Tinubu in concluding the new national minimum wage and making the final figure known to workers.

The trade union said the President was supposed to have concluded all needed consultations with the necessary stakeholders before the Tripartite Committee on the new Minimum Wage submitted its report.

This came as the union threatened to shut down universities at the end of a two-week ultimatum it issued to the government to pay the four months withheld salaries which have been paid to its sister union, ASUU.

The ultimatum, issued last week by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Associated Institutions (NASU) to shut down universities if the withheld salaries are not paid, is expected to expire next week.

Speaking at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of Benin, Edo State, SSANU President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, noted that the President, during his election campaign, promised to pay Nigerian workers a living wage that would take care of their immediate needs.

Ibrahim, who doubles as the National Internal Auditor of the NLC, while responding to Tinubu’s request to consult with governors and other stakeholders before taking a position on the amount to be decided, said: “I can say that at the level of SSANU, we are not too happy about the slow motion because the President of this country, Bola Tinubu, campaigned on the mantra of ensuring that when he comes on board, he will make sure that there will be a living wage for Nigerian workers.”

MEANWHILE, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has revealed that his monthly salary as a presiding officer was less than N400,000 while monthly allowance was N25 million.

He argued that the misconception by Nigerians that lawmakers earned huge salaries and allowances had given the National Assembly a negative image, causing lawmakers to be tagged as thieves at public fora.

Dogara said this yesterday at the commencement of a three-day ‘Open Week’ celebration, organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja.

The event was attended by members of the diplomatic corps, lawmakers at the state and federal levels, ministers, governors, lawmakers, and presiding officers.

Dogara, who was Speaker of the Eighth House between 2015-19, maintained that time had come for the National Assembly to throw open its finances, to dispel insinuations that legislators were taking a humongous amount of money monthly.

The pay package of public office holders, particularly the salaries and allowances of National Assembly members, has been an issue of concern among Nigerians.

Ahmed Lawan, President of the Ninth Senate, had, in 2021, revealed that the monthly salary of a senator was N1.5 million while that of a member of the House of Representatives was N1.3 million.

But Dogara said the earnings of members of the National Assembly which have been on the front burner, cannot last them for more than three days.

He said it is important that Nigerians allow their representatives to work and limit the financial demands on them, occasioned by the belief that they earn huge salaries and allowances. He said: “While I was Speaker, my salary was less than N400,000. I don’t know if it has increased now. My total imprest was N25 million, and I told my accountant to open a separate account for the imprest. I never for once took any money out of that account. Everything that came into that account was used to cater for the needs of constituents.

“My accountant complained of the level of demand on the account, and I told him if the money there is finished, borrow, when money comes, you return it to where you had taken money from.”

Dogara added: “I am saying this so that Nigerians will give their legislators a breathing space, and know that the narrative is not true about members’ pay.

“We all know that democracy is expensive, and if we think that it is too expensive, maybe we should ask our political scientists to develop a local model that will be cheaper.”

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