*The roles of SGF Pius Anyim, Adams Oshiomhole & Rotimi Amaechi
*Why Govs and FG buckled

By Jide Ajani,  Deputy Editor, Okey Ndiribe, Abuja

Principally, but for the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers State Governor, the three-day warning strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, would have held!  This is a report of how Governor Oshiomhole’s deftness contributed in very large measure to the compromise positions of state governors, the Federal Government and even NLC, thereby averting a strike that would have been too burdensome for Nigeria’s ailing economy.  It is a story of intrigues and sophistry of gargantuan proportions.  It is exclusive.

Had the heat level in the negotiating rooms been measured, it may have suggested that the air-conditioners were not in good order.  But they were.  At the negotiations between the governors and leaders of NLC, on the one hand, and that between the Federal Government delegation and the labour leaders, temperatures reached for the roof.

However, during all the talks, what Sunday Vanguard was able to establish was the role played by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

A source close to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, told Sunday Vanguard that “the talks would have actually broken down” Anyim led the Federal Government delegation to the talks.

According to the source, it was the “collaboration between Oshiomhole and Amaechi, as well as the clear-headedness of the SGF that ensured that the nation averted what would have become a very serious crisis.”

Indications that negotiations between the leaders of the nation’s labour movement and those of the Federal Government would be prolonged and grueling emerged last Monday when stern-faced leaders of NLC and TUC remained unmoved by the jokes of Senator Anyim. It was the first meeting at the highest level between the two sides which held two days away from the date fixed for commencement of the strike.

Anyim had tried to soften the hard looks on the faces of the labour leaders when he requested them to also clap alongside some senior civil servants who had given a round of applause after the Federal Government’s delegation to the talks were introduced. But the labour leaders were not in the mood for any applause.  The Monday meeting eventually ended in a deadlock.

However, on the second day of the negotiations, Oshiomhole played the role of a mediator in breaking the deadlock  between the Federal Government and Governors’ Forum on the one hand, and the nation’s labour movement on the other.  After the marathon meeting  between labour leaders and the forum, the state chief executives  had mandated  Oshiomhole, who was the immediate past President of NLC  to accompany the labour leaders for the second  round of meeting with the SGF.

Although the meeting held behind closed doors, it was gathered that the Minister of Labour, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu, was also present with the Director-General of the National Wages and Salaries Commission, Chief Richard Egbule.

At last Monday’s meeting,Wogu had indicated that the Federal Government’s position had hardly shifted from what it was last week.  He repeated the justification the government delegation had given for its stance on the dispute over the minimum wage.  He maintained that what was budgeted for in the current financial year was fund for payment of public servants in categories one to six. He pointed out that the major challenge the government was facing was that of funding  the payment of the new minimum wage across board.

His position was reiterated by the SGF. He appealed to NLC and TUC  to call off  the proposed nationwide strike.

Anyim further appealed to the labour leaders to accept the implementation of the new minimum wage for workers on levels one to six  in the public service since this was what was budgeted for in the 2011 Appropriation Act of the National Assembly.

He pledged that the Federal Government had agreed to implement the salary review for workers on categories seven to 17 by next January.

He explained that the  government’s earlier  interpretation of the Minimum Wage Act was strict in the sense that it was fashioned to ensure that no Nigerian worker should receive less than N18,000 as monthly wage whereas the labour movement’s interpretation was that the law should apply across board.

Last week’s intervention of the House of Representatives in the dispute did not achieve much results!  But it was a move in the right direction.

The Lower House had invited NLC and  TUC for dialogue over the declaration of strike which was scheduled to commence last Wednesday.

It was learnt that when the NLC delegation met with the leadership of the House of Representatives, officials of the National Salaries and Wages Commission and Budget Office of the Presidency informed  the meeting that the government could not implement the new minimum wage for all salary categories in the public sector because the funds were not available.

They also complained that should the new minimum wage be effected, the cost of salaries for workers in the public sector would jump by N55 billion  which was not accommodated in the budget for the current financial year.

He sais: “The officials from the Budget Office told us that only allocations for workers on salaries grades one to six were made in the 2011 appropriation of the Federal Government.”

According to the source: “The officials from the Budget Office appealed to the NLC delegation to prevail on workers to accept the restricted application of the Minimum Wage law in the ‘national interest’.”

The source continued: “They also said the Federal Government could not afford to pay the new Minimum wage to all categories of workers now because its overhead expenses were already too much”.

It was learnt that other officials of the Federal Government who were present during the dialogue session also urged the labour leaders to realise that this was no time for a nation-wide strike considering the serious security threat posed to the nation  by the Boko Haram Sect  which has unleashed a reign of terror in Maiduguri and several other cities in the North.

The source said that when the leadership of the House demanded for an explanation over the exclusion of workers in the senior categories from the wage review which ought to accompany the implementation of the Minimum Wage law, the officials from the Budget Office replied that the exclusion was based on their feeling.

It was also learnt that some members of the House who met with the labour leaders also accused the NLC leadership of spear-heading the campaign to slash their allowances indicating that it was now pay back time for the nation’s umbrella labour body.

However, the NLC delegation was said to have reminded the Federal Government delegation and that of the House of Representatives that before the Minimum Wage Law was enacted, there were extensive tripartite negotiations which involved the federal and state governments on one hand and the private sector on the other.

He said: “The NLC delegation argued that if they cut on leakages and wastages in the financial system of the federal and state governments the public sector in the country would be able to pay the new minimum wage.”

When contacted on the matter, the Acting General Secretary of NLC, Owei Lakemfa, refused to comment but hinted that no progress had been achieved in the negotiation with the Federal Government despite the intervention of the House of Representatives as at early Tuesday.

But the role of Oshiomhole, as the immediate past President of NLC, went a long distance in calming frayed nerves.

A very senior representative in the Federal Government delegation to the talks told Sunday Vanguard that “it was Oshiomhole who ensured that a moderating ambience existed because at some point the talks were really heated.”

Held behind closed doors, Sunday Vanguard was able to discover that it was Oshiomhole who prevailed on the governors on the “need to weigh their options and reach for a truce rather than allow labour to embark on the planned warning strike.  While Oshiomhole impressed this imperative on them, Amaechi, speaking with his colleagues as the chairman of their forum in groups, went for a compromise position which would ensure that whereas the governors would agree to pay the new minimum wage, they would immediately proceed to get President Goodluck Jonathan to revisit the issue of the revenue sharing formula.”

In fact, a sidekick to the negotiations, Sunday Vanguard can reveal, was the unwritten agreement that the  governors were assured by the presidency that “something would be done.”

It was this agreement within an agreement that saw the state governors meeting with President Jonathan last Wednesday.

The revenue formula is expected to be reviewed after every five years but the one in existence is already over a decade in application. It allocates 52 per cent to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while the states and local government councils would take 26.72 per cent and 20.60 per cent respectively – the remainder is allocated to some special agencies and funds of government.
Some of the issues of concern to the governors included allegations of what a source described as “inappropriate deductions from the Federation Account”.

Anyim, Sunday Vanguard was told, deployed his negotiating capabilities which saw him deftly tip-toe the minefields during his leadership of Nigeria’s Senate, at ta ime when then President Olusegun Obasanjo parted ways with the leadership of the Senate.  But Anyim survived and bade such intrigues farewell until his attempt to become national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and now as SGF.  The source at the meeting informed Sunday vanguard that “Anyim brought his skills to bear during the talks.  There were times when arguments became heated but clear-headedness prevailed”.

A labour leader who spoke to Sunday Vanguard maintained that “it was very obvious that the state governors and the Federal Government knew what they were doing but just wanted to  test the resolve of labour, but at the end; they saw that it was about obeying the law; about a regime of policy consensus and not policy dictatorship”.

Sunday Vanguard further gathered that as the talks went on, Oshiomhole kept reminding the governors and the federal government delegation to the talks that time was of essence.

“Oshiomhole’s role could be described as tripartite.  First, he remained a state governor but did not shirk his responsibility to the labour movement, while at the same time demonstrating huge commitment to the sanctity, peace and stability of the Nigerian state – at least as it is for now; same thing for Governor Amaechi”, the source said.

“Labour was also made to shift its position and that was how the compromise position was reached, an agreement which would see the federal government comply with the National Minimum Wage Act, 2011, with a completion of negotiations not later than Sunday, July 31, 2011; arrears of the new pay would take effect from March when the Act was signed into law and paid not later than August, with a proviso that no worker shall suffer victimisation on account of his or her role in the strike

It would be recalled that the leadership of NLC penultimate Tuesday declared a three day nationwide warning strike to commence last Wednesday to compel both public and private sector employers to implement the new minimum wage law.

The Governors’ Forum had stirred the hornet’s nest over the vexed issue few weeks ago when it asked the Federal Government to remove the subsidy from premium motor spirit (petrol) so that the states could utilize expected allocations from the federation account to pay their workers the new minimum wage.

The NLC had rejected their demand and pointed out that they never presented that condition during the negotiation for a new minimum wage.

The NLC had further produced documents to indicate that some of the state governments even proposed salaries that were far higher than what the NLC eventually settled for during the tripartite negotiations.

Investigations by Sunday Vanguard revealed that indeed, Abia and Kebbi proposed to pay their workers N46,700 and N30,000  respectively while Anambra and  Federal Capital Territory offered to pay N25,000 as minimum wage.