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Workers in Nigeria will today join their counterparts the world over to mark this year’s May Day. This year’s Workers’ Day is significant to Nigerian workers coming some days after President Muhammmadu Buhari signed the National Minimum Wage Bill into law. While last year’s May Day was marked with agitations for a new national minimum wage, today’s event is likely to witness strident calls for the immediate implementation of the new minimum wage by all employers of labour in the country.
It will be recalled that some states and some employers in the private sector reneged in the payment of former minimum wage of N18,000. It is sad that some state governments still owe their workers and pensioners arrears of salaries and pensions. We hope that this nonchalant attitude to workers’ welfare will change now that the new minimum wage has been approved.
Good enough, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, recently vowed to ensure the full implementation of the new national minimum wage of N30,000 by the state governments and all employers of labour. The struggle for the new minimum wage commenced in 2011 and was concluded with the recent signing of the minimum wage bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It is also commendable that some states, including Anambra, Kebbi and Kano, have promised to pay the new minimum wage. We enjoin other states to emulate them. We rejoice with Nigerian workers on this great occasion of May Day and urge them to put in their best in their work places.
Now that the government has approved a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, it must ensure that necessary measures are put in place to enable the state governments and the private sector pay the new wage. There is urgent need for immediate implementation of the new wage. Government should not allow labour to embark on another strike before the new minimum wage is implemented.
Therefore, a timely review of the revenue sharing formula will go a long way to enable the states pay their workers the new wage. Apart from this, the state governments should think of ways to increase their internally generated revenues and minimise wasteful expenditure. The states should get more involved in agriculture in order to create more jobs and earn additional revenues.
As workers celebrate the May Day today, it is worth noting that it is not yet Uhuru for many Nigerian workers. Without doubt, many of them still work under inhuman conditions in some factories, especially those owned by foreigners. In these factories, these workers put in more hours under excruciating working conditions and yet earn less. Some of them still work as casuals, especially in the financial and other sectors of the economy.
Unfortunately, many graduates are paid below the former N18,000 minimum wage a month by some employers in the country. We urge the Federal Government to do something urgently to stop the ill-treatment of Nigerian workers by some employers. We also commend the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Adamu Mohammed, for restoring the traditional 8-hour work shift for Nigeria Police personnel from the current 12-hour shift structure.
We urge all employers of labour to emulate the Nigeria Police Force and ensure that no worker in Nigeria is subjected to double shift in his place of work. Since many Nigerians are unemployed, the Federal Government should ensure that its social investment programmes such as conditional cash transfer, N-Power, TraderMoni, the school feeding programme and others are implemented in all the 36 states of the Federation.
Let the government prioritise the welfare of Nigerian workers and urgently stem the brain drain in the health sector. We wish Nigerian workers a Happy May Day celebration.
