The suspension of what would have been the mother of all strikes scheduled for October 3 for a period of 30 days by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) due to the 15-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached with the federal government and signed by representatives of government and labour leaders is understandable but should not be taken for granted. While the suspension of the nationwide indefinite strike by organized labour is commendable, the government must step up efforts to meet the demands of labour by faithfully implementing the agreements.
Before organized labour issued the strike notice, there was apparent division between the leadership of NLC and the TUC as discerned from the body language of NLC President Joe Ajaero and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo. But the crack in the labour body was reportedly mended by the timely intervention of respected former labour leaders and concerned Nigerians who believe that a divided labour will not augur well for the labour movement and the welfare of Nigerian workers. With a united front, organized labour was able to extract 15 agreements from the federal government.
The highpoints of the agreements include the N35,000 wage award for all federal government workers beginning from September, pending when a new minimum wage would be signed into law; the inauguration of a new minimum wage committee within one month from the date of the agreement; the suspension of the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) collection on diesel for six months beginning from October 2023; and a vote by the federal government of N100billion for the provision of high capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria.
Others are government’s plan to implement various tax incentive measures for private sector and the general public; outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions will be referred to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement; federal government’s commitment to pay N25,000 per month for three months beginning from October 2023 to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners; and a plea to state governments through the National Economic Council and the Governors Forum to implement wage award for their workers, as well as extending such a gesture to local government and private sector workers.
It is good that organized labour was able to wrestle the federal government on the ground before obtaining the 15-point agreements which can be described as lots of promises. It is also good that labour gave the government a grace period of one month or 30 days to further fine-tune the agreements and demonstrate the honesty in implementing them or some of them. What the government does within the one-month period will determine whether organized labour will call out workers to embark on an indefinite strike or not. Everything is now in the hands of the government to do the needful and avert further disruption of the apparent industrial peace in the country.
My worry over the agreements, which are legion, is that the government is notorious in reneging on agreements entered with various workers’ unions. If in doubt, you can ask the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), NMA, NARD, NASU and others. Can the government be faithful in honouring the current agreements with labour this time around? Will it renege midway as before? If the government fails to fulfill its part, what will labour do? Perhaps it will call and mobilize workers for another round of trike. Regardless of how the matter goes, it is pertinent to pint out that another industrial action in a collapsing economy will be dire. It should not even be contemplated. The government must work hard to avert another strike action in a battered economy.
For the government and labour, the strike is not yet over. That is the basic truth. It was only suspended for only 30 days. Organized labour is very much aware of this. That is why it has warned that there will be no warning before another strike takes off. Therefore, nobody should be having a good laugh over the agreements reached with the federal government until they are fulfilled. Any agreement not fulfilled is not worth it. It will really take time and resources to fulfil most of them. But the government needs to demonstrate that it is willing to address the demands of Nigerian workers.
Therefore, the engagement between government and organized labour on this matter must be open-ended. While organized labour is negotiating for federal workers, it should be noted that the bulk of Nigerian workers are employed by the state, local governments and the private sector. The interests of these category of workers must be factored into the agreements too to avoid a strike action. Assuming the federal government has the money to implement the wage award to its workers, can the state, local government and private sector be in a position to do the same to their workers? The answer can be both yes and no depending on which sector or layer of government is answering the question.
While some states can be in a position to pay the new wage award, about one or two, I doubt that many states will foot the bill without resorting to unbridled borrowing. More so, it will be pretty difficult for many states to pay in this period of cash crunch and coupled with the fact that most of them depend so much on federal government allocation for sustenance. For the third tier of government, which in my estimation exists only in name, is so castrated and financially emasculated by the state governors that it cannot be in a position to contemplate a wage award. The abuse of local government funds by governors is why that tier of government is not working. For Nigeria to achieve overall socio-economic development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the third tier of government must be restored and be made to be functional.
The absence of grassroots government can explain the rise in insecurity across the country. It can equally explain why over 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor. The return of a truly local government administration as recognized by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) through elected officials with financial autonomy can address some of the challenges facing the country, especially poverty and insecurity. Being that we operate a federal system of government, the federal government can give its workers wage award but such cannot be forced on the states and local governments.
Each tier of government is free to negotiate with its workers and give wage award according to its financial capacity. The same can apply to the tier of government where they are operational and the private sector. However, if the state governments can plug all avenues of corruption, including bogus security vote and other oddities in governance, they can pay the wage award. Although some states have failed to implement the N30,000 minimum wage, not necessarily because they have no funds but because they have not demonstrated the political will to pay it.
No doubt, Nigerian workers whether in government or private sector desire a living wage. A situation where workers go to work twice a week or less will not grow the economy. It will not also improve our exports. That is why this government should take another glance at some of its policies and tinker some of them in tune with the prevailing economic realities. The current exchange rate between the US dollar and foreign currencies and the naira is not favourbale. The inflation rate is so high. Unemployment rate is also rising. The cost of transportation is so high. Nigerians are suffering and bearing the excruciating pains of government’s economic policies. They need succor now. The government business must be people-centered because government exists because of the people.
Without the people, there will be no need for government. The president, governors and lawmakers at whatever level must prioritize the people in their policies and actions. In other words, the three arms of government, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary must factor the people in their programmes. The federal government and leaders of the organized labour must utilize the 30 days window to perfect their agreements and make them implementable. In this period of cash crunch, there will be room for addition and subtraction in implementing the agreements. They should ensure that industrial peace prevails.