In the last couple of months, the issue of the national minimum wage has taken the front burner in national discourse as organized labour centres led by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, on one hand and Federal Government, FG, were pitched in different camps over a review of the subsisting scenario.
As each of the parties held to their grounds for several months, many observers had thought the then lingering impasse was going to last longer than it ended.
Unexpectedly, after a back and forth negotiations between the FG and the labour centres, they finally agreed to a minimum wage of N70,000, which was reluctantly accepted by Organised Labour. Even at that the government stressed when the deal was struck that it had accepted to this sum with a large heart and with the interest of the workers in line with its promise during the campaigns prior to the 2023 elections that workers’ welfare was its major priority. That was commendable enough but there appears to be snags with implementation both at the states and Federal levels.
It is however on record that the issue of minimum wage began before the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration and it was thought the preceding government was going to fix it before its exit date on May 29, 2023 as negotiations had reached feverish pitch and was merely awaiting a nod from the then Presidency. Then Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige was quoted then as saying that the nation was about tinkering with the minimum wage which he noted was statutorily long-over–due. Yet, there was no realistic effort at implementing a new minimum wage before the government exited. When some were concerned that as a nation, there was no need review the wage given depleting national income, others thought differently, insisting that the trending inflation then calls rather for an economic policy that would make current wage meaningful, others held that what was expedient was to review the wage along the line of rising inflation.
The Buhari government had promised it was working assiduously to enforce a new minimum wage across the nation but that never saw the light of the day.
The euphoria that followed that promise to review the wage was not unexpected nor misplaced as it was over a decade that the then minimum wage subsisted but that expectation was dashed as the government reneged on its promise.
Nobody is in doubt that the now revised minimum wage of thirty thousand naira was unrealistic and not in tune with the current inflationary trend. In line with that, many stakeholders had opined, this move should not be a politically motivated adventure, aimed at enhancing the cause of the ruling party’s political expediency. Like many Nigerians have cautioned, wage adjustments and indeed minimum wage, is not something outside the realm of normal bureaucracy, hence should not be politicized by the initiating authority nor the recipients. It is within the purview of the government to initiate wage review in line with existing negotiated and legalized frameworks.
It is unfair attempts to make it appear that they are all out to do what is gargantuan and undeserving.
With this euphoria also comes with a sad reality where some state governments are yet to pay the last minimum wage. To further accentuate this painful circumstance is the fact that some of them are not even paying salaries at all, while others pay percentages of salaries based on whims of the affected state governments.
It is worrisome that while some states government have initiated moves to implement the new minimum wage, others are repulsive to the new regime as they are even yet to even pay the then N30,000 that subsisted.
We urge the FG and states to be true to their mandate of promoting the welfare of its citizenry. It is their right to be treated along negotiated lines.
