After months of dialogue with the Federal Government, the organised labour recently accepted the government’s paltry offer of N70,000 as the new national minimum wage as against labour’s earlier demand for N250,000. The new wage represents a slight increase of government’s earlier offer of N62,000.
The new minimum wage bill was immediately forwarded to the National Assembly, which the lawmakers readily passed into law. The leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) yielded to the new minimum wage because President Bola Tinubu promised to ensure that wages are reviewed every three years instead of the extant period of five years.
Perhaps the President’s promise to wade into the welfare issues of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered buses are some of the government’s incentives that prompted labour to accept the new wage, which was far below their former demand.
The President also promised to support the organised private sector to enable their members pay the new minimum wage to their workers. Without government’s assistance, the organised private sector comprising the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) and Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), may not pay the new wage.
It is likely that some states may ask the federal government support to enable them pay the new wage. We say this because many of the states are yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage. Even some states are paying between N40,000 and N50,000 as minimum wage to their workers. The situation in the private sector is precarious due to rising cost of doing business in the country. Many in the private sector may not have the financial muscle to pay the new wage.
Although the new minimum wage is not so enticing considering the galloping inflation in the country where the new wage can’t even buy a 50kg bag of rice, which sells for between N80,000 and above, it is better than nothing. The new wage is far above the hitherto minimum wage of N30,000. And since there is a provision for its review every three years, members of the organised labour will do better in future negotiations and stick to their demand and stop shifting ground anyhow.
We commend the government and organised labour for agreeing on a new national minimum wage. It took them time to arrive at the new wage. During the meeting of the tripartite committee, the federal government team initially offered N48,000 but later shifted to N54,000, N57,000, N60,000 and N62,000 before finally agreeing to pay N70,000. On the part of organised labour, it initially demanded for N615,000 and later N500,000, N497,000 and N250,000 before accepting government’s offer of N70,000.
While some states have expressed the willingness to implement the new wage, others are foot-dragging despite the high increase in their share from monthly federal allocations. If the governors can reduce their security votes and opulence, every state in Nigeria can pay the new wage effortlessly. Every state should invest in agriculture and increase their internal revenues. They should stop depending so much on the monthly allocation from Abuja.
There are many lessons to learn from the deliberations which finally led to the new wage. While the government and organised private sector’s team was seemingly more tactful and realistic, organised labour appeared not. That is why organised labour should be more methodical and realistic in future wage negotiations. Now that the minimum wage has been increased to N70,000, federal, state and local government workers should increase their productivity and justify the new pay.
The era of loitering around offices and eating groundnuts and roasted plantains should be over. The era of missing files and documents, bribery and corruption in federal and state ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) should indeed be over. We urge the MDAs to key into this administration’s plan to improve the ease of doing business in order to boost tourism and attract foreign investors.
Let those in charge of the MDAs remove all ghost workers from the payroll, including workers who reside abroad and still collect salaries for work not done. We call on all stakeholders to curb the endemic corruption in the federal civil service, as well as those of the states.