Fast-Tracking The New Minimum Wage

Sequel to the suspension of the nationwide warning strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in conjunction with Trade Union Congress (TUC) to drive home their demand for the implementation of the new minimum wage agreed upon by the government and the unions, the National Council of States rose from it meeting of 25th November, 2010 with a pronouncement that it has okayed the recommended N18, 000.00 as the national minimum wage.

Prior to the Council of State meeting, labour had sounded a note of warning that it would not tolerate any further compromise on the agreed wage and that implementation must commence this year. According to the NLC president, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, labour would not hesitate to demand for the payment of arrears if the government pushes the implementation of the wage to next year.

The action of the Council of State has actually brought to its final phase the tortuous struggle by labour for a new national minimum wage in Nigeria.

The council acted expeditiously in view of the grave danger nationwide strike actions pose to the economy and might also pose to the impending general election.

At a time when rising inflationary trend and other economic indices have resulted to very high cost of living, the Nigerian workers pay package, especially those in the public and unorganised private sectors, has remained standstill and continued to be cited as being among the poorest in the world. This is even as the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), charged with the responsibility of maintaining, among other things, a public wage policy that will guarantee maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status as stipulated in chapter II, Section 14 (2) and 16 (1)-(2) of the 1999 constitution, concerns itself only with the upward review of wages of political office holders to the detriment of other categories of workers.

The present stance of labour can be justified against the background of the deep understanding patience and patriotism labour has demonstrated so far. From an initial demand of N52, 000 as the national minimum wage, it was persuaded in the light of presentations made by other stakeholders to settle for a more realistic wage of N18, 000.

While we commend labour for the maturity it has demonstrated in the struggle, we also call on the National Assembly to rise up to the challenge of the final phase of the wage struggle by speedily passing the bill into law.

We say so because the National Assembly has recently received commendations for bravely tackling the challenge of strengthening the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through appropriation of funds to perform its role effectively. It has also been applauded for the swift attention it has paid to various other bills seeking to reform the electoral process in  order to ensure a free and fair 2011 election that will help to deepen democratic practice in Nigeria. In the same vein, NASS should see the bill seeking to guarantee industrial peace desired for the smooth conduct of the 2011 elections as yet another task of urgent national importance.

The nation cannot afford another national strike especially at a time it is struggling to accommodate various aspects of the electoral process within the existing time frame left for the conduct of the 2011 general election.

If labour is forced to embark on another round of industrial action in or before January 2011, such action will definitely disrupt some of the election programmes already scheduled by INEC. For example, the voters registration exercise slated for January, may be disrupted and any other adjustments in the election time table could result to a constitutional crisis of unimaginable proportion. Even if the electoral process were to go unhindered, the nation’s drive towards becoming one of the 20 industralised nations of the world by 2020 will seriously be hampered by industrial unrest.

It is, therefore, important that all necessary steps are taken to create the much-needed industrial harmony between the government and  labour in order to ensure that 2011 and Vision 202020 elections progress without any hitch.

One sure way of ensuring this harmony is through the speedy passage and implementation of the new national minimum wage bill and we think the onus lies on the National Assembly to once more demonstrate the usual commitment and patriotism by giving a legal backing to the agreed wage.

We also urge the federal, state and local governments to kick-start arrangements towards the prompt implementation of the new wage as soon as it is passed into law.

A cue can be taken from the Rivers State government which has already set up a committee to work out the modalities for the implementation of the new minimum wage as soon as possible.