Plight of the Nigerian worker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, the organised labour in Nigeria, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), joins its counterparts around the world to celebrate this year’s May Day amidst harsh economic conditions. It is, indeed, a time for introspection and self appraisal by organised labour in respect of the struggle to improve the living standard and work condition of the Nigerian worker.

May Day, Labour Day or International Workers’ Day, began in Europe as a traditional spring celebration to welcome Summer, while the first Monday of every May is usually a bank holiday for labourers and workers. The US and Canada observe same workers’ holiday on the first Monday of September.

The Catholic Church dedicates May 1 to Saint Joseph the worker. What began as a pagan holiday is now celebrated with marches and rallies across the world.

In Nigeria, it is also a day of speeches and demands for better working conditions and remuneration, by Labour leaders. The dominant narrative today will, no doubt, centre on the proposed new national minimum wage. Labour may be demanding N72, 000, $200 equivalent, as new national minimum wage up from its earlier demand of N56, 000 last year and N65, 000 early this year.

President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said the minimum wage struggle, which began in Nigeria in 1981, was predicated on $200 which is a far cry from the current N18, 000 national minimum wage. Wabba explained: “It was Pa Michael Imoudu that started the struggle for a living wage through his Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA).

But the struggle for a negotiated minimum wage began in 1981 when labour agreed for equivalent of $200. Today, we cannot agree for less because the cost of living has shot through the roof and naira has been grossly devalued which, therefore, means that we cannot agree for something that is not within that range.” Following the persistent demand by labour for the upward of the national minimum wage President Muhammadu Buhari on November 26, 2017 inaugurated a 30-man Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee, calling on the members to come up with a fair and decent wage for Nigerian workers. Inaugurating the committee in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Buhari said that re-negotiation of a new national minimum wage had become imperative because the existing minimum wage instrument had since expired.

The president noted that the subject of a national minimum wage for the federation was within the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution. He, therefore, enjoined the committee members to “go above the basic social protection floor for all Nigerian workers, based on the ability of each tier of government to pay.

We, however, observe that seven months after President Buhari inaugurated the tripartite committee, the issue of the new national minimum wage is still mired in controversy.

Speaking during a public hearing of the committee for the North Central zone in Lokoja recently, the NLC president said the excuse by governors that they cannot pay the proposed minimum wage due to dwindling financial resources and economic crunch was not tenable.

He charged both the federal and state governments to stop monumental official corruption and wastages of public funds in order to meet the proposed national minimum wage of N65, 500 for workers. According to him, the onus lies on the government to make projections for the future when its economy is flourishing, adding that “economies do bubble and economies do burst.

Nevertheless, we laud the Buhari administration for having the courage to review the national minimum wage upward in spite of dwindling revenue to government occasioned by the fall in oil prices at the international market. We also commend the resilience, industry and patience of Nigerian workers who in some cases go for as long as 11 months without salary as well as contend with a highly volatile economic, political and social environment amidst high insecurity.

We seize the opportunity of the International Workers’ Day to congratulate the NLC on its 40th anniversary which was celebrated in March, this year.

It is, however, expedient to urge the Nigerian worker that while it is his right to demand better living conditions from the government, he has a duty to make government responsive and accountable to the people.The best way to achieve this, in our view, is for workers to participate actively in the 2019 general elections in order to determine the nature and quality of the nation’s leadership across all tiers and arms of government. Aluta continua

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