As NLC suspends warning strike
Nigerian workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress [NLC] began an indefinite warning strike Thursday last week, September 26, 2018 to press home their demand for an upward review of the national minimum wage. NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the strike action was in compliance with the decision of organized labour’s various organs which endorsed the 14-day ultimatum earlier served on the federal government.
Wabba said the National Minimum Wage Committee which was set up in November 2017 commenced work in March 2018 with timelines for arriving at a new national minimum wage in August/September 2018. He said the committee worked assiduously to meet this deadline but was shocked by the decision of the federal government to adjourn the committee’s meeting indefinitely, which Wabba said prompted the strike. Organized labour is demanding for N56,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in Nigeria.
NLC’s leadership however suspended the warning strike on Sunday. Before the strike’s suspension, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff Malam Abba Kyari presided over a closed-door meeting with labour leaders led by the NLC President at the State House, Abuja. Although the warning strike has been suspended, it was actually avoidable if government had remained committed to the principles of collective bargaining. Unfortunately, government kept dragging its feet over the matter, giving the excuse that state governments refused to make inputs.
Announcing the strike’s suspension at a press conference in Abuja, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said “organized labour has, after obtaining the mandate of their necessary organs, decided to suspend the strike action with effect from today Sunday September 30, 2018.” Wabba further said, “We have received a firm and formal invitation to a reconvened meeting of the tripartite committee scheduled for October 4 and 5, 2018.” He said the meeting would be the final session on the matter after which a final report would be submitted to President Buhari.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many state governments are barely able to pay the current national minimum wage. While some states said they could only implement the minimum wage after reducing their work force, others implemented it according to their interpretation of the Minimum Wage Act. In Niger State for example, the then Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu paid N18,0000 to workers on grade level 01 and thereafter added a paltry sum to the salary of workers on Grade levels 2 to 17. He said the Minimum Wage Act only stipulated the minimum amount payable but did not specify the maximum amount payable.
Actually, it is not paying the minimum wage that is difficult but federal and state governments usually follow up on adjustments to the minimum wage with pro-rata increases for all other categories of workers. This is what makes wage bills to increase astronomically. Most states are highly dependent on federation account receipts and their wage bills often consume most of these receipts. The wrong setting of priorities by many state governments compound the problem.
In spite of these challenges, Nigerian workers actually deserve an upward review of the wage. Ever since the 2011 Minimum Wage Act came into force, several factors have rendered workers’ monthly pay worthless. Increase in the pump price of petrol from N87 to N145 per liter, double digit inflation and the steep devaluation of the naira since 2015 together severely eroded the value of worker’s wages. As argued by NLC, N18,000 was more than $100 when it became the minimum wage but today, it has been reduced to $50.
Considering the dilemma facing workers, governments and the organized private sector, the minimum wage issue is indeed a hard nut to crack but it is not beyond human capacity to do so as long as there is sincerity and commitment on all sides. As the National Minimum Wage Committee sits again in two days’ time, we urge all sides to move quickly and realistically and arrive at a realistic and living new national minimum wage.