By Rotimi Fasan
NIGERIA’s labour movement is surely in a state of intellectual crisis. The leadership of the leading associations of workers in the country needs both moral and intellectual revival. Even if one is inclined to think that the obvious moral deficiency that current labour leaders exhibit demands more  immediate attention that any other matter that puts a question mark on their relevance to the life and plight of the Nigerian worker, their manifest display of intellectual vacuity might be more demanding of urgent amelioration than anything else.

I say this even when it could be reasonably assumed that today’s labour leaders have far better formal education and exposure than their predecessors from earlier generations. At least some of today’s labour leaders prefix their names with titles that suggest they are beneficiaries of advanced university degrees or professional training. Unlike the self-trained Michael Imoudus that fought epic-like battles on behalf of workers in years gone by.

Those labour leaders of yore might not have had much to show in terms of possession of chains of western-type educational degrees; they might not have had the exposure to foreign culture that frequent travels have afforded today’s leaders, but they had far more to offer in terms of their dedication, incorruptibility and conviction than the leaders of today.

They also demonstrated an appreciable measure of native intelligence and inner wisdom, the kind that would not allow them to become manipulable victims of power, than the men and women that lay claim to the leadership of workers’ bodies today. Yet, the social and political incapacitation of labour leaders, their near-total irrelevance if not active complicity in the immeseration of the Nigerian worker in particular and all others struggling in business or artisanal occupations in general- the failure of our labour leaders to stand up to be counted on the side of the people reflects more the corrupt disposition of the leaders than their mere lack of intellectual reflection.

The idea that our labour leaders are increasingly hurting the cause of the Nigerian worker rather than working for their good was again brought home to me by their latest demand for a steep increase in the national minimum wage, up from N18,000 to N56, 000. Several reasons make this demand a thoughtless one, not the least of them is the ailing state of the Nigerian economy now.

The massive crash in the price of crude oil, Nigeria’s mainstay as an economic power house in Africa, has resulted in all kinds of calamitous situations for the people of this country. With crude oil selling at just about $35 per barrel for about a year now means a drastic shortfall in the revenue accruable to the Nigerian treasury. Many states in our so-called federation are so pauperised that workers have not been paid for many months, many times as many as twelve months. Even when these states got the lifeline of a so-called bail-out, they are still unable and/or unwilling to pay workers.

When they pay at all the actual amount paid, or the actual percentage of workers who benefitted from such payment and what percentage of their monthly wage was paid them immediately becomes an issue of debate and bitter disagreement between the workers and the state governments. In all this, all one hears from the labour leaders are often tepid threats if not loud silence of a sort that is dispiriting. For many months now since Nigerian workers became victims of irregular or unpaid salaries, labour unions have hardly taken any stand worthy of note. They address issues affecting their members in a manner that suggests that they would rather not rock the boat of corruption and irresponsibility that has brought everyone to this pass. Our labour leaders are too close to our political leaders to serves as effective check on the criminal excesses of the ‘elected’ lot. They appear to envy the unearned privileges of the ruling elite and so look forward to joining the gravy train.

It is no wonder then that each time the political leaders make special provision of benefits (such as cars) already covered by their salaries for themselves, all our labour leaders do is insist that such benefits be extended to workers. Yes, we all do know that inflation has creamed off whatever advantages were meant to accrue to workers with the institution of the present minimum wage- yes, we do know that our law makers earn so much that they are afraid to disclose their salaries to Nigerians. But the answer to that is not an increase in the minimum wage again. As we speak many states are yet to start paying the current minimum wage. And the parlous state of our economy simply means that the states concerned will not be able to pay the proposed new wage. This ought to be commonsensical stuff but simple as it is, the point eludes our labour leaders.

Rather than seek yet another increment in wages, what these leaders ought to be doing is devising means of ensuring those in government come up with strategies that can help increase the purchasing power of our Naira. We’ve been buying fuel at between N200 to N400 per litre in the last couple of months. How would any increase in the monthly wage make life more liveable for people already groaning under the effect of carrying too much cash to buy the few things they could afford? What N1 would buy just a month ago has tripled in price since that time. The things money bought a few years ago are no longer affordable today even when people carry far more cash on their persons. The purchasing capacity of the Naira has been pulverised beyond recognition. Having more money chasing fewer goods around then cannot be the solution to the problem.

But because these labour leaders are themselves workers only in name and nothing more (their lifestyles and possessions proclaim them as members of the ruling elite), they have become disconnected from the workers and are quick to make tepid demands on behalf of the masses that they know are veritable sheep without a shepherd once their leaders join hands with their oppressors. Rather than accede to the demands of labour, what those in government obviously do is ‘take care’ of the labour leaders who are thereafter too compromised to be effective and soon join the political train as contestants in gubernatorial and other categories of elections. It is therefore a foolish attempt at mischief for the labour elite to grandstand on behalf of the Nigerian worker by making ill-digested demands they know the government will not pay attention to. Nigerian labour leaders should return to the path of old and honour and stop making irresponsible demands for workers.