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Looming Labour Crisis

With organised labour insisting on immediate implementation of the new minimum wage law and some state governors vehement that they will not be able to foot the bill, the stage may be set for another round of struggle by the labour union. As stated in their address at the workers day celebration, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said they insisted on timely implementation of the wage increase. According to him, the tripartite committee has already wasted a lot of time arriving at the new national minimum wage. “We should not waste a single more second implementing the new national minimum wage across board. We urge workers to remain vigilant till total victory is won.”

NLC and TUC said they would not only push for compliance with the minimum wage payment at all levels but noted that henceforth the national leadership of labour will also take action against states owing salary arrears to workers to ensure that it is cleared.

The Deputy Chairman of Senate Committee on Labour, Senator Victor Umeh, who represented the Senate president, commended Buhari for giving timely assent to the new minimum wage bill after it was speedily passed by the National Assembly.

He said there could be no meaningful development without the contribution and support of workers. Many who addressed workers at ceremony applauded the federal government and labour movement for resolving the issue in a relatively peaceful manner. The senator representing Anambra Central on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), spoke on behalf of the Senate President. He made a case for more investment in the development of human capital, adding that the future of the country depends on how efficiently and effectively the government is able to utilise the human resource potential.

In her goodwill message, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Eyo Etta, commended the resilience of Nigerian workers and urged them to continue to support the government. She said the president had succeeded in putting a smile on the faces of Nigerian workers by not only approving funds for payment of arrears of salaries, allowances and pensions, but also signing into law the new minimum wage.

Assessment of State of the Nation

The labour union made some valid observations on the just-concluded general election, saying the elections were characterised by lots of electoral infraction. It therefore, demanded the implementation of the Justice Muhammed Uwais-led Committee Report on reform of the nation’s electoral system as a way forward. On the mounting debt profile, the apex labour union said workers were concerned over the increasing debt accumulation by governments at all levels. The concern of labour is quite understandable when one considers the fact that most of the states are currently witnessing economic hardship. According the labour movement, figures from the Debt Management Office put Nigeria’s debt burden as at December 31, 2018 at N24.387 trillion, adding that the breakdown of the debt stock revealed that the federal government’s external debt increased by 42.69 per cent from N4.527 trillion in 2017 to N6.460 trillion in 2018.

Records indicate that about two-thirds of the government’s revenues go into servicing interest payments, with the principal still waiting for redemption at maturity. Another issue that attracted concern of labour is the deteriorating situation in the electricity sub-sector. It said that the privatised electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) have failed the nation and should have their terms of agreement reviewed. The union said: “It is sad that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) appears soft on operators and hard on consumers. We call on the federal government now that the tenure of the DISCOs is due for renewal to review the entire privatisation exercise and come up with the best approach to deal with this challenge.”