Section, 14 (b) of the 1999 constitution states that “ the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” In the light of this   the current stance by most state governors on the new minimum wage, seems contrary to the spirit of this provision. Hence not a few wonder why State governors cannot pay the  eighteen thousand naira monthly wage demanded by Nigeria Labour Congress. CHARLES KUMOLU writes.

Labour warming up for industrial action

THEY have never been this anxious. Not even when they were expecting the implementation of the 2000 minimum wage Act.Life for these people, who give more and earn little, since May 1,2010, have been full of agonising suspense.

While each month is supposed to bring them closer to what they have been promised, the reverse is the case, as each day presents new challenges.

Even threats of an industrial action has failed to produce the desired result. Surprisingly, after over six months, government, especially state governments are still foot dragging.

In the light of this, many wished President Goodluck Jonathan never made the promise, because it would have saved Nigerian workers from expecting an illusion. That in a nutshell, is the story of Nigerian civil servants, who are still expecting the N18,000 minimum wage.

Instructively, the International Labour Organisation,ILO, defines a minimum change as a wage which provides a floor to the wage structure in order to protect workers at the bottom of the wage distribution. Minimum wages are a nearly universal policy instrument-they are applied in more than 90 percent of ILO member States.

It further noted that the level at which minimum wages are set varies between countries, as do the rate and frequency at which they are updated. Between 2001 and 2007 on the average, most nations increased their minimum wage by 5.7 percent in real terms.

According to the ILO Global Wage Report 2008/2009, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turk-menistan, and Uzbekistan, displayed some of the best record, achieving annual wage growth rates higher than 10 percent. Another example is China, where real wages grew on average about 11percent per year thanks to its double digit growth economy. Among developed countries, wages in the median country grew by about 0.9percent per year. Comparative figures were 0.3 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 1.8 percent in Asia.

This paltry sum, VanguardFeatures, VF gathered got Nigeria listed among countries with the lowest minimum wage in the world.This is evident in the global statistics of wages as the average annual income per person in Nigeria is around $400 or N66, 000.

In the begining

Perhaps, it was the need to take Nigeria out of this degrading list of low income earners that informed the decision of then acting President Goodluck Jonathan, to initiate a new wage package.

He had in May last year, said a new pay package for Nigerian civil servants will be operational in three months.

When operational, the least paid worker would go home with N18,000 at the end of every month as against the N7,500 minimum wage that presently obtains.

Jonathan while addressing workers on the occasion of the May Day celebration pleaded with civil servants to shelve their planned scheduled five-day warning strike , assuring them that the issues in dispute would be resolved within the next three months.

He also disclosed that he had directed then Minister of Labour, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu, to ensure that negotiations with the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council achieved the desired results within the next three months.

“This important assignment of which I understand you are respectfully represented in the committee is nearing conclusion. The National Committee on Parameters for Wages in the public segment is also working assiduously to ensure that we have a mechanism that will make for adjustment on workers’ remuneration gradual.

“I sincerely plead with the civil service unions to negotiate with the government because of the warning strike they have presented to us. I believe very sincerely that Nigeria and indeed the rest of the society must develop to a point that workers will not negotiate for salary increase,” he said.

States mandated by section 14 of the constitution to pay

However, that the new salary structure is yet to be implemented more than three months which President Jonathan stipulated has become a torment for many. But VF checks revealed that more worrisome, is the resolve by most state governors not to pay the stipulated amount. And they would be going against the spirit of the constitution if they fail to comply with the letters of Section 14 subsection 2b of the 1999 constitution which complies they to do so.

Workers during an industrial action.

According to this portion of the constitution: “The Security and Welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government,”

Fillers from most states as at the time of writing this report, reveals that the governors have given reasons why they cannot pay the wage.

For many stakeholders, this defiance on the part of some states, amounts to flagrant disregard for the law.

The law cannot be negotiated

President General of Trade Union Congress,TUC, Comrade Peter Esele belongs to this group.

Esele, who was part of the tripartite committee that negotiated for the proposed wage, told VF that, “ the governors are in a better position to explain why they have refused to implement this law. They promised heaven and earth before the elections and we beleived them, today these governors have refused to fulfill their promise. The impression they are creating is that they don’t have respect for the law. This law passed through the proper processed before it was passed by the National Assembly,” Esele noted.

As far as he is concerned, “the law is not negotiable, you don’t negotiate the law, it is binding on them to implement what the law says.”

When reminded that fillers across the country, indicate that most state governors may not be intimidated by the two-weeks ultimatum, Esele said, “when we get to the bridge we will cross it, they don’t have any reason not to implement it.”

Beyond this, it was gathered that some governors have threatened their workers on the dangers of refusing to go to work.But the TUC boss, would hear nothing of such.

Sounding confident about the threat to go on strike, Esele enthused, “someone from one of the national dailies told me about the Adamawa State governor, who said that they will apply ILO stipulation on no work no pay, but we are waiting for them.”

Similarly, Deputy National President of Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero did not hide his displeasure about the issue, when VF encountered him.

“What is very clear is that the governors were part of the process that led to the agreement. They were instrumental to that agreement and they have not come out to deny it. The claim that they can’t afford to pay the minimum wage is baseless, because we factored in their current revenue status and arrived at eighteen thousand naira. We demanded for fifty two thousand naira before arriving at eighteen. All factors were considered before it was agreed upon and consequently passed into law,” Ajero maintained.

Accordingly, he said, “what the governors are trying to do amounts to calling for anarchy, because the law must be obeyed. I believe that we will get something positive because labour action usually gathers momentum.

“Why can’t they afford eighteen thousand in a country where people live on less than one dollar a day, the roads are in a bad state, power is unsteady, while house rent is very much on the high side. What would eighteen thousand do for a family of six in a month,” Ajaero queried.

Minimum wage struggle in Nigeria

This is not the first time that workers would be asking for a general upward review of wages and an increase in the National Minimum Wage. Between 1945 when workers staged the famous 45 days general strike for a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25 percent general wage through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidation Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15 percent by Obasanjo, workers have struggled aboutt 15 times to have wages improved and a national minimum wage legislated upon.

But the struggles produced notable victories for workers and the NLC, it was usually the case that: the National Minimum Wage was always set below the minimum wage needed by workers to survive. Because of the inadequacy of the wage, some state governments elected on their own to pay more.

Even then, there were also some state governments that pay less than the stipulated national minimum wage. The result was that workers always could not cope. The wage reviews were largely unstructured; sometimes negotiated wages were changed by government through circulars; at other times, government effected unilateral wage increases.

Agreements reached with government were sometimes distorted at implementation or not implemented at all by government. For example, the 2000 Wage Review Agreement provided for a further 25per cent wage increase for workers with effect from May 1, 2001, and 15 per cent wage increase with effect from May 1, 2002.

This was not implemented. Following industrial dispute over this a 121/2 percent increase rather than the 35 per cent agreement in 2000, was signed in 2003. But in the end, only an increase of between 4 and 12 1/2 per cent was implemented by the Federal Government. Although the Shonekan Committee was set up against this background and recommended a 25 percent increase in salaries, Obasanjo unilaterally implemented a 15 percent increase in 2007. Government also failed to abide by the time frames set out for subsequent negotiations with workers.

Workers always had to fight to get government to agree to collective bargaining even when the procedure was agreed in previous negotiations. Today, workers find that they have to fight yet again to get government to agree to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage and a general upward review of wages.