By Cross Udo
The Federal Government yesterday hinted that there are plans to adjust the N30, 000 minimum wage given the global inflation that has affected the purchasing power.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, dropped the hint while speaking at the public presentation at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at 40 publication titled, “Contemporary History of Working Class Struggles,” at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
He said the adjustment has become imperative to reflect what is happening across the globe
According to him, “The inflation is worldwide, we shall adjust the minimum wage in conformity with what is happening and much more important, the 2019 Minimum Wage Act has a new clause for a review.
“That adjustment has started with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) because the stage they are with their primary employers, the ministry of education, is a Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA, negotiations”.
“Under the principles of offer and acceptance, which is that of Collective Bargaining, ASUU can say let’s look at the offer they gave us and make a counter offer, but they have not done that, if they do that, we are bound to look at their offer, these are the ingredients of collective negotiations,” he added.
The Minister noted that labour creates the wealth of any nation as well as the wealth of any family, adding that “if you don’t work, you won’t eat.”
He said that plans are on top gear to make Michael Imoudu Institute of Labour Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State a degree-awarding institute even as he advised executives of affiliate unions of the NLC to avail themselves of the opportunity of using the institute to acquaint themselves of labour laws.
Also speaking, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, said the Nigerian worker has been subjugated and oppressed by the ruling class.
He lamented that the current minimum wage of N30, 000 cannot in the present economic reality pay workers transportation fare to work for a month.
Osifo, who said that labour movement in the country is one with the sole aim to protect the interest of workers, noted that if not for the struggle of the founding fathers of the movement in the country, the story would have been different today.
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The TUC boss also told the government to recognize the power of agreement.
On his part, a former national president of NLC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, advised the labour to interrogate those jostling to be president in the 2023 elections on their policies and manifesto as it concerns the economy.
He said, “Nothing can be more humiliating for you as workers than someone who is elected on your platform is the one taking the position that is completely in conflict with what you stand for.
“And that is why I will conclude by saying that, the season we are in, I invite all of us to look carefully. Even I have told APC candidates. If you pursue absolute market forces, you don’t have me on your side because what brought us to this situation, talking about history, we must document the characters of government we interface with.
“So if you say you do not want market forces, say so now to those who want to be president. I want you to use the moment to know that there is no such thing as a good person in government or a bad person. Or a short person and a tall person. What will determine your fate is the policy choices that those in government, consciously take.”
Oshiomhole, who was the immediate past governor of Edo State and former national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said there is nothing objective about governance and that government is an act of bias.
He said that even as a stalwart of a political party and knowing his background that he was made by labour, he cannot condemn the labour movement if it had decided to protest against the high price of diesel in the country.
He said that the privilege of office even as a governor was not enough for him to forget his background.
He said, “If I was a coward, I won’t be removed the way I was removed as national chairman of APC,” advising labour leaders to stop agonising rather they should be organising.
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Stressing that he wants a country that works for everyone, Oshiomhole advised the labour movement to fight so that wages should be dollarized.
He said, “We must teach our younger generation to understand the other side of the argument. There must be more than one way to bail us out where we are.
“Yesterday (Sunday), I had the opportunity to address the APC youth leaders and I told them we are not just interested in building a great country with a huge GDP, the largest GDP in Africa, but the GDP should reflect in our living standard.
“We should have well-paid people and more prosperous people. We don’t just want to say that we have the largest GDP in Africa we want to be able to say that our people are better off than people in any other African country. If not then there is a crisis of description and we cannot be progressive.
“If we post two contradictory indices the human index is going down and then the economy index is going up, something is going wrong. When I declared to contest for President, I did it on television not secret before I realized I couldn’t raise N100m.
“I want you to know that what makes us different as labour leaders are that if you are grounded on those core values of labour, nothing in life will make you change.
“I said this before even on national television that the fact that the children of the poor are at home, is not featured in conversations on television. It’s all about politics, this is wrong. It is not an act of God. We have to fix it.”
Also speaking, the Nigeria pioneer NLC Chairman, Hassan Sunmonu lamented the poor condition of the university sector.
He queried, “Why is different in this particular country? Name one university anywhere in the world, where vice-chancellors have to ask for the permission of the head of the service before they recruit a professor.
“Name any university in the world, where to pay professors and lecturers it has to be through the accountant-general’s office. Where in the world is anything akin to IPPIS being forced on any university?
“The most patriotic Nigerians are those federal universities. Why should a senior lecturer have the salary of a Sergeant in the army? If we don’t take education seriously it will be to the detriment of our present and future.
“I would like to congratulate the leadership of the NLC for this feat. I am very proud of you people. The IMF and World Bank want to make Nigeria a poor and undeveloped country forever. Our policymakers are not talking. Most of them were put there by IMF and World Bank. We don’t have a secret in Nigeria. Our secrets are in Washington, London, and co.”
