New minimum wage to wait -FG •Strike ’ll be total -NLC •TUC joins forces with NLC
Written by Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Gbola Subair and Kolawole Daniel, Abuja Friday, 05 November 2010
The national chairman of the commission, Chief Richard Egbule, who dropped the hint in Abuja at this year’s ministerial press briefing, explained that due process had to be followed in accordance with the constitution of the land before Nigerian workers could start enjoying the minimum wage, saying, “what we have now is mere recommendation, it has to go through three processes.”
Nigerian Tribune recalls that the Federal Government had set up a tripartite committee on the National Minimum wage, chaired by Justice Alfa Belgore, which submitted its report in July in which it recommended N18, 000 as the new national minimum wage which was immediately announced by the government.
Announcing the new minimum wage, the Federal Government stated that its implementation would be from July 1 this year.
Nigerian workers have since then been agitating for the implementation of the new minimum wage while the organised labour had even given the Federal Government an ultimatum within which to pay the new minimum wage, failing which they threatened a nationwide industrial action.
Following the agitation, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr Chukwuemeka Wogu, told the nation that the implementation of the new minimum wage had commenced, saying that even the staff of his ministry had started drawing the new salary, which the workers later debunked.
However, the chairman of the wages commission on Thursday explained that there were three stages the recommendation of the tripartite committee must pass through before its implementation, saying that, “you cannot decree or issue circular on national minimum wage, it is only legislation that can make it legal.”
According to him, “the first stage after the recommendation is for the National Economic Council to sit on it, the next stage is for the National Council of State to deliberate on the recommendation of the NEC, then the Federal Executive Council and finally, the National Assembly for legislation.”
He made it clear that anything short of the above processes would be illegal and the minimum wage would not be implemented as currently being agitated by the workers.
He also said that, “it is no exaggeration to say that the commission has remained central to wage administration in the public service and its intervention had in no small way contributed to guiding the Budget Office of the Federation in dealing with personnel budgeting, using more reliable templates.”
However, the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, who also spoke at the event, said that, “with what the workers are paid today, it is difficult to fight corruption. When people are not well paid it is difficult to put in their best. If our wages are not improved, it will be difficult to achieve vision 20:2020.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday, warned that all banks and other public and private offices should not open as from November 10, and urged all Nigerians to visit their banks before that date and store their houses with food, as it directed all workers to begin a nationwide strike.
The congress declared on Thursday, in Abuja, at the Labour House, that the three-day warning strike would be total and told Nigerian workers and its affiliates not to wait for further directive from the headquarters but commence the strike on that date.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the chairman, National Strike Committee and Deputy President of NLC, Comrade Promise Adewusi, said there was no going back on the strike since the government had failed all the expectations of the workers.
“Since the government does not want Nigerian workers to have a better minimum wage and higher salaries, the NLC has directed that a nationwide warning strike should hold from Wednesday, 10 to Friday, 12 November, 2010.
“All workers in the civil service and public service at federal, state and local government levels and those in the private sector are, therefore, directed to observe the three days as work-free days.
“Any worker who violates this directive will be treated as a traitor. This will be the first in the series of actions to actualise this minimum wage demand. No minimum wage, no work,” Comrade Adewusi said in his text for the press briefing, entitled, “General Strike Starts Wednesday 10, November, 2010.”
He pointed out that due to the very high cost of living, the NLC made a demand for N52,200 minimum wage in 2008, upon which the Federal Government agreed and set up a negotiating team made up of federal and state governments, labour and private sector employers.
Comrade Adewusi said the congress, out of patriotic zeal, agreed to a very low N18,000 new minimum wage. According to him, the Joint Government-Labour-Employer Negotiating Team, chaired by retired Chief Justice of the Federation, Alfa Belgore, which finished its work in April 2010, also drafted a new Minimum Wage Bill to reflect the agreement, and all government needed to do was forward this bill to the National Assembly.
He said: “We believe that this issue is sensitive enough to be given accelerated speed. In the event that nothing concrete is done, the strike will be total and effective. We have already opened a channel of communication with our affiliates and state councils. There is no going to be any further notice. If by by November 10 nothing happens, all workers must stay at home.
“The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is in this with us, because all Nigerians workers have been impoverished. The notice was also sent to the government, though the government has made some contacts but we have gone beyond talking; we want action on the part of the government.”
Comrade Adewusi said the mobilisation was total and had already commenced.
Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has taken a firm position to join forces with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to ensure total success of the planned three-day warning strike that would begin on Wednesday, (November 10) to ensure that the government is made to respect agreements.
The labour centre has also resolved to defend the votes of Nigerians and warns that rascality, which manifests in the form of rigging, ballot snatching, harassment, and other vices from politicians and their hoodlums will be resisted by the organised labour in the coming elections.
TUC’s President-General, Comrade Peter Esele, who made the declaration, on Thursday, in Lagos, at a press conference organised by the labour centre to sensitise Nigerians to why the strike must take place, also stressed the importance of labour’s full participation in the 2011 elections and guarantee credible leaders are voted into office.
Also, the National Economic Council (NEC) has resolved that a committee chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, which will also have some state governors as members, be set up to examine the problematic technical areas with the aim of resolving them before the implementation.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole disclosed this to State House correspondents in a briefing after the council meeting attended by President Goodluck Jonathan and former leaders, including General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Chief Ernest Shonekan, General Muhamadu Buhari and many state governors.
The council also confirmed acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Hafiz Ringim, as the substantive police boss following his appointment in September.
According to Governor Oshiomhole, “on the issue of the minimum wage, the council received the report and generally, the council was sympathetic with the idea but it observed that there were a couple of technical and practical issues to be sorted out and resolved to set up a sub-committee to be chaired by the vice-president, with some governors as members, that will finetune those areas so that at the end of the day, we have a package that can be implemented in a way that will not cause any crisis around the country.”
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