President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on January 30, 2024, through Vice
President Kashim Shettima, inaugurated a 37-member tripartite
Committee charged with the task of coming up with a new minimum
wage for the country. The Committee, chaired by a former Head of
the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Goni Aji, was also given a
May 31 st deadline for the submission of its report.
With membership cutting across federal and state governments, the
private sector and organized labour, Shettima, during the Committee’s
inauguration, urged its members to speedily arrive at a resolution and
submit their report before the end of the deadline set by the President.
But with less than two weeks to the expiration of the deadline, this
does not seem likely to happen. The organized labour, led by the
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress,
(TUC) started the demonstration of craze (apologies to the late Fela
Anikulapo Kuti) when its members in each of the six-geopolitical
zones in the country started proposing various amounts ranging from
N485,000 to N850,000 as what the least paid workers in the country
should earn on a monthly basis. The TUC was a bit more realistic by
fixing N447,000 as what should be the take home pay of the least paid
workers. By the time the NLC ended its rigmarole, one month had
been lost.
Another round of discussions started as the two labour unions felt that
it would be more appropriate to present a single proposal to the
committee. The NLC and the TUC came up with the figure N615,000,
which was duly submitted to the Committee for consideration.
In arriving at the figure, labour leaders presented ‘facts’ using an
average family of six comprising of the father, mother and four
children as a template and the following criteria:
•Housing/accommodation for a month – 40,000;
•Electricity bill – N20,000; •Utilities (water) – N10,000;
•Kerosene/Gas N35,000; and
•Food, at the rate of N9,000 for 30 days totalling N270,000.
Others include –
•Medical – N50,000; •Clothing – N20,000; •Education – N50,000;
•Sanitation – N10,000; and •Transportation – N110,000.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said that their research was based on
the current inflationary trend in the country and that a questionnaire
was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC to
enable them gather their data.
Ajaero, in his wisdom noted that labour did not include other
expenses such as the amount workers spend on mobile phone calls
and data, offerings in Churches and Mosques, community dues,
entertainment, savings and security etc. He is of the view that the
figure would have been higher should the recent increase in electricity
tariff have been factored in. “Any figure below this amount becomes a
starvation wage which will condemn Nigerian workers and their
families to perpetual poverty”, he stated.
But the Federal Government turned the whole negotiation into a joke
when it proposed N48,000 as what workers should be paid as the
minimum wage, while the Organised Private Sector proposed
N54,000. As expected, the two labour unions were shocked by what
they termed ‘ridiculous’ offer which led to their representatives
walking out of the Committee meeting.
According to the organised labour, what the government offered is a
reduction in income for federal-level workers who are already
receiving the old minimum wage of N30,000 as mandated by law,
augmented by former President Muhammad Buhari’s 40 per cent
peculiar allowance of N12,000 and the N35,000 wage award
approved by Tinubu after the removal of fuel subsidy, totalling
N77,000.
At a joint briefing in Labour House last week by Ajaero and the
Deputy President of TUC, Dr. Tommy Okon, Labour lamented
government’s failure to provide any substantiated data to support its
offer exacerbated the situation.
The labour leaders argued that the government has shown total lack of
transparency and good faith in their proposal which undermines the
credibility of the negotiation process and erodes trust between the
parties involved.
Indeed, what can N48,00 get anybody in Nigeria of today? With
N48,000, one can at least get 80 litres of fuel at N610 per litre. That is
a full tank of some jeeps used by our leaders in Nigeria, and it won’t
last more than two weeks. The Tinubu administration should be told if
they don’t go to the market again that N48,000 will only get you half
a bag of rice. If you are interested in gari, you may need to add some
extra cash to get half bag of gari for the family. The proposed
minimum wage of N48,000 will also get you 233 kilowatts of
electricity if the worker is unlucky enough to reside in a Band A area
meant for few lucky Nigerians who supposedly enjoy electricity for a
minimal of 20 hours a day, and it is doubtful if it will last for a month.
So, the right thing is what labour leaders did by outrightly rejecting
the ridiculous amount offered by the government.
With the work of the Committee in the cooler and the NLC and the
TUC not ready to return to the negotiating table to reach an amicable
resolution of the impasse, now akin to the two parties playing Tom
and Jerry with the lives of Nigerian workers.
Whilst the labour unions could be said to have come up with what is
clearly above the capability of the Federal Government, and most
especially the State government to pay, it doesn’t justify the
ridiculously low amount of N48,000 which forced labour leaders to
walk out of the negotiations.
In the interest of workers and the nation’s economy, both parties
should be told in clear terms that they should come down from their
high horses and give Nigerian workers a new minimum wage that
would give a breather to an already traumatised labour force. The last
one year has been hell for most workers. Since the removal of subsidy
on fuel and the unification of the dual exchange rate in the country,
majority of public servants are now experiencing what has been
tagged multi-dimensional poverty.
The present minimum wage of N30,000 has trapped workers in a
cycle of poverty. As far back as 2021, 47.3 per cent of Nigerians were
multidimensionally poor. That number has gone up significantly
following the removal of fuel subsidy and a galloping inflation rate of
36 per cent, the highest in the last 28 years. The subsequent steep
increase in the cost of living, without wage adjustments has pushed
more Nigerians into the poverty quagmire.
The trajectory of minimum wages in Nigeria has shown a significant
pattern. The first minimum wage in 1981 was N125 per month. At the
exchange rate of US$1/ 0.61 naira in 1981, this amounted to about
US$204. In 2024, that minimum wage would be equivalent to about
265,000 naira (US$204) per month, going by the current exchange
rate of about US$1/1,500 naira. As of last week, the current exchange
rate is US$/ N1,500.00. This puts the minimum wage in 1981, at least
eight times more than the current minimum wage. And this is due
mainly to inflation and the poor value of the naira against other
international currencies. The N48,000 being offered by the
government if converted to US dollar is a meagre $32, far smaller
than what many African countries pay their workers. In some of our
neigbouring countries, the Naira is now being treated as trash, with
traders now rejecting it.
As at last year, workers in Seychelles, Libya, Morocco, Gabon, South
Africa, Mauritius and Equatorial Guinea have $456, $325, $315,
$256, $242, $240 and $224 respectively as their minimum “take
home” at the end of the month. Yet the giant of Africa is offering a
miserly $32 to it’s workers.
In the United State of America, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour
with states such as the District of Columbia fixing $17 per hour as its
minimum wage. With most citizens working two or three shifts in a
day, majority are comfortable and doing fine.
In the United Kingdom, the minimum wage as at April this year is 11.
44 pounds per hour, although many workers earn more than that.
Needless to say, the standard of living in those places is far better than
what is obtainable in Nigeria.
In the USA or UK, you have got no choice but to sit and do the job
for the specified number of hours you sign up for. Productivity is
quite low here in Nigeria, and this has also led to the argument that
workers should be paid based on what they put into the system.
The meagre salary of average workers in Nigeria would definitely
increase corruption and graft within the system. There is no way civil
servants would not demand gratification from anybody wishing to get
one thing or the other done within the system as is already the norm.
Top civil servants demand up to 30 per cent cut from contractors
while the junior ones openly beg for money.
Again, the poor wage has resulted in low productivity, as most public
servants saunter to work as late as 11A.M and are already on their
way home or to their shops and other businesses once it is 2P.M.
In an attempt to make ends meet, some families have now sacrificed
education and deployed their children and wards into petty trading
and menial jobs to make additional income for survival.
My opinion is that a minimum wage below N100,000 would be a
starvation wage for Nigerian workers. Government should be able to
pay such without much difficulty if they are ready to reduce
corruption within the system and truly put the people first. Labour
should also accept a reasonable figure as to insist on an amount
beyond the capability of State governments and the private sector
would amount to shooting themselves in the foot.
That is when issues such as retrenchment and rationalisation of staff
may come into the mix. Instead of asking for wage increase alone,
labour could also ask for free bus services, free and subsidised
housing, and free medical care for workers and their families. If such
facilities are put in place, it would go a long way in reducing the
amount of money workers spent on such essential needs.
The federal government should also work on improving the security
situation across the country so that farmers would be able to return to
farm. This would lead to an increase in food yield and ultimately a
reduction in the prices of foodstuffs.
All said and done, a new minimum wage that would at least take
workers half-way home should be agreed on as soon as possible. All
parties should also be sincere and put the interest of the workers and
the nation first in their negotiations.
