Workers Without Value

The main responsibility
of any government is to cater for the welfare and security of the citizens. Responsible governments all over the world prioritise the well-being and protection of the nationals.
Sadly, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Ours is a country where human lives are not valued, where laws are made to protect a certain class of the people while the masses are left on their own. Ours is a society where workers, particularly those on government employment are treated with ignominy. That is why some state chief executives can afford to owe workers salaries for up to nine months without being bordered.
A recent report of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Task Force on employees’ salary arrears across the country revealed that 23 out of the 36 states of the federation are owing workers salaries. According to the report while some of the states had paid salaries of workers up to date, some were owing arrears of pension running into months.
Expectedly, some governors of the affected states have blamed their inability to meet their financial obligations on the shortfall in their monthly allocations from the Federal Government due to the dwindling oil revenue occasioned by the sharp drop in crude oil price in the international market.
It is true that the drop has affected the revenue of the country. A lot of the governors planned on a more robust allocation which had drastically dwindled but must it take a toll on the lives of the workers alone? Are the governors, lawmakers, other political office holders’ salaries and entitlements also being owed? What have the state chief executives been doing with previous state allocations and internally generated revenue? The states in the Niger Delta have additional 13% oil derivation fund, yet many of them cannot pay their civil servants, how can that be explained?
Perhaps the only logical explanation is the one by some analysts who say that the debtor states borrowed heavily from various money lending sources and by the time the interest on the money or perhaps a percentage of their already slashed monthly allocations is deducted to service their loans, the states are left with almost nothing.
Again, some have blamed the current economic crisis in the country on failure of leadership both at the states and federal levels and very poor economic management. For over three decades since Nigeria became a big time oil producing nation, what have we done with the oil revenue? How did our leaders prepare us for these rainy days during the time of plenty? I mean Nigeria is not the only oil producing nation hit by the oil price fall, why are we the only one finding it extremely difficult to cope with the situation to the extent that both federal and state governments now borrow to pay ordinary workers salaries.
Meanwhile, the same state and federal leaders, who are grappling with workers salaries, had enough money to spend during the past general elections in the country. Could it be that the monies were from the state and Federal funds while the workers wallow in penury?
No doubt the country is in a quagmire and if there are no intervening variables it might degenerate into more serious crisis. Governors of the 36 states of the Federation met few days ago to consider proposals for a possible bailout for states with financial difficulties especially those unable to pay workers salaries. While this may sound like a good intervention, it cannot bring a lasting solution to the problem.
The People Democratic Party last week advised Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to sell his helicopter and stop “wasteful spending” in order to raise money to pay salaries of workers in the state. We sure need such drastic measures to pull through the current economic challenge.
Our lawmakers are rated as the most highly paid in the world with outrageous allowances and salaries. Early this month we read stories of how senators and members of the House of Representatives that constitute the 8th National Assembly and Ministers to be appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari will receive welcome perks amounting to N9bn, as housing, furniture allowance and motor vehicle loans as prescribed by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. These people are being given these bogus allowances just for representing the people while the people they represent go hungry.
One really thinks it is high time we began to set our priorities right both as states and as a nation. We also need a sincere constitutional amendment that will bring about a total restructuring in the country. Many of the problems we have in this country are caused by the system of government we run. Ours is a federal system which makes the center very powerful and the states weak and virtually dependent on the center for existence. There is practically no way the nation can develop like that.
So there is need for us to truly run a federal system which allows the states to be in charge of their resources, they generate funds to develop themselves and pay royalty to the federal government. This will no doubt make the states viable. The governors will look inwards; find ways of generating income instead of running cap in-hand to the federal government for allocations at the end of every month.
The slogan of the current government in power is “change”. We need change in various aspects of our economy, especially in the area of income generation and expenditure so that the poor workers will cease to suffer. Our leaders need to prove that they value the workers by ensuring prompt payment of their salaries and allowances, even if it will require them slashing their salaries and allowances  just like the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai did. There should be change from selfish leadership to selfless leadership.

Calista Ezeaku