Rejection of N30,000 minimum wage will lead to defeat in 2019 , NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, tells Buhari, Govs

The president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, speaks to SOJI-EZE FAGBEMI on the raging issue of a new national minimum wage. Excerpts:

 

The heat generated by the clamour for a new national minimum wage is gradually going down. Are you happy with how things are presently?

It [the heat] is not going down; it is just one stage. What we did is to make sure that there is a formal report from the [tripartite] committee. The formal report from the committee will have to go through brief administrative processes at the level of the executive and what is expected is that the executive will transmit it into Executive Bill.

 

How ready are you for the process that will follow?

At all the levels, we are really on alert to make sure that we follow up on the processes. You are aware that at the negotiation table, there were lots of hiccups even in respect of arriving at a recommendation. After the conclusion of our negotiation process, the governors went ahead to throw up a figure that was not on the table in the media. We were not involved in the process of pronouncing their figure. At the negotiation table, states were requested to send in memorandums, which 21 states did. There was no basis for anybody to go and hide anywhere and throw up a figure. Some forces wanted to ensure that there was no recommendation but we thank God, we put up all the necessary pressure and did the needful and the report was completed.

• Buhari endorses N30,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers

Even along the line, people tried to change the narrative to say that it was two figures. That is why we said, first, let us cross this bridge and in crossing the bridge, a figure was recommended by the Tripartite Minimum Wage Negotiating Committee – one figure. There is a normal procedure and this procedure is that the approving authority – the executive, ably led by the president – should receive the report. The report was received and we expect that the executive process should not take more time than necessary. We will be very vigilant. We will be following up on the process and put them under necessary pressure. We expect that there won’t be further delay on their part. I know that as a matter of process, it would go through the FEC and the Economic Council. And we have lightened the work of the executive, because attached to the report is also a draft bill which we did to amend the existing National Minimum Wage Act. We tried to improve on it and insert the figure into that bill. So, what is expected is that the process of the executive should be completed quickly and transmitted to the National Assembly. Even at the level of the National Assembly, we will not rest; we will also do follow-up until it is promulgated into an Act and sent back to Mr President for assent. These are the processes and we will follow them. In the past, it was only at the level of implementation that we had issues, not at the level of negotiation. But this time, even on agreeing on a figure, there were challenges. So, if anybody thinks it is going to be a very smooth process, that mindset should be changed. It is on the basis of the fact that unions made a legitimate demand that we will follow up on all the processes to ensure that the minimum wage is delivered to the Nigerian workers and make sure that they benefit from it. If the money is not in the pockets of workers, we are not yet there. In spite of the law, we have to follow up on the process of implementation. You will remember that despite the minimum wage law, up till 2000, implementation was the main problem. We had to have a special NLC executive council meeting in Asaba in 2000 before pushing for implementation. So, it is in stages; it is in phases and, therefore, until the deal is done and until the money is in the pockets of Nigerian workers, there is no way we can say we have arrived.

 

You said the next major stage of the processes is the National Assembly. What is your expectation from legislators, governors and the Organised Private Sector?

When a bill as important as the National Minimum Wage is transmitted to the National Assembly, our expectation is that it should receive an expeditious consideration. As far as the Organised Private Sector is concerned, we have no problem with them; we are on the same page. Even at the negotiation table, the Organised Private Sector aligned themselves with workers. They said they needed to enhance the productivity of workers and make them happy. They said if workers were happy, they were certain that their businesses would thrive. Businesses are for profit and to make profit, workers must be able to align with you. So, we are on the same page.

 

What of the governors who are saying that the recommended pay will bankrupt their states andx bearing in mind that what they proposed was N22,400?

We are aware of the position of governors and I am sure that the National Assembly will be mindful of the fact that this is an issue that is dear to the heart of every Nigerian worker, and therefore we are ready for the contestation that is involved. Every member of the National Assembly comes from a constituency, just as every worker has a constituency, so there would be engagement as usual to make sure that the law is enacted in good time. But the bone and the substance of the bill are also important and this is where we would also need to do the needful. Already, we have mapped out strategies to follow up on the remaining processes. We have strategies which remain exclusive to us for now. You will only be invited when we are implementing those strategies and decisions. So, this is where we are and I think it is where to go. There is no way we can say that we have arrived. Forces are still at work. Even after the submission of the report, you heard people like [Governor Nasir] el-Rufai saying that states should pay what they could afford. But he has forgotten that in the case of the political elites, it is not what they can afford that they are paying to themselves. In fact, they are paying higher than what is prescribed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Most of them are paying higher than what the commission prescribed for political officeholders. Their severance package is so humongous; it is not contained in the provision of the commission. We will also follow up on this argument. It is a national minimum wage, not a state minimum wage. It is under the Exclusive List of the constitution and as such, no state can go outside of it to pay ridiculous a salary. It will be a violation of the constitution and we will be ready to take them up. Any governor that cannot abide by the constitution should step aside. If you can’t conform to the constitution, you should not hold a public office. Holding a public office suggests that you have sworn to uphold the constitution, so if you violate the constitution, you are not worthy to hold that public office. That argument would be there; it is what we would drive. There is no reason to say that we should return to state or regional way. That is not what we have for now. We have a national minimum wage. In most capitalist economies, they have a national minimum wage. It is guided by international conventions. Those arguments are usually advanced by those who want to exploit workers, especially those governors who are exploitative. They have tried to advance these arguments but I am sure that with the facts we have put before the public, with the resilience of the Nigerian workers, we will surmount all these hurdles.

 

With the statement credited to Governor el-Rufai, one would wonder if the state governors are actually being carried along in this long process.

I have said several times that we had six governors on the committee, which was unprecedented in the history of minimum wage negotiation. We never had such a number on the committee before. The first thing the committee did was to send out a letter to each of the 36 state governors, addressed to them specifically to ask them to send in their inputs to the Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiation Committee, to state their positions, what they thought should be the minimum wage, using empirical data. That opportunity was given to them and 21 states responded. Even in law, you can decide to make a no-case submission but you can also make a submission. In that case, 21 states made submissions and quoted figures. They were the figures we used in negotiating and arriving at N30,000, because Labour also came up with N66,500. The Organised Private Sector also came up with a figure. Specialised agencies of the government came up with figures. The Federal Government came up with its figure. So, all those figures were put in a basket through a process of collective bargaining, including ability to pay and purchasing power parity. Other factors as outlined in Convention 131 were also used to negotiate and arrive at the N30,000 figure. It was the same figure that was unanimously recommended to the executive, so nobody, including el-Rufai, can make a U-turn.

 

The governors have come out through the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdul Aziz Yari, to issue a threat that they cannot afford to pay N30,000 except they sack workers. How would you respond to this?

The threat by the governor of Zamfara State that the governors would sack workers before they can pay N30,000 national minimum wage cannot be used to intimidate labour. Threat to sack workers is not new in the struggle for a review of the national minimum wage in Nigeria. However, they must know that the consequences of workers retrenchment are too grievous for any political officeholder truly elected by the people to contemplate. In any case, we have made it known that the Governors Forum is illegal. The 1999 Constitution (as amended) only recognises individual states in the Collective Bargaining Process and not Nigeria Governors Forum.

 

Is that why you insist on individual governor going to his state to make such a pronouncement?

Since a few of them are bent on enslaving Nigerian workers with peanuts as salaries, they must subject their humungous salaries and allowances, which available facts and figures have shown are among the highest in the world, pro rata with the minimum wage they want to force down the throats of Nigerian workers. Yes, we have insisted that the governors should go to their respective states and inform workers and their families of their individual positions on the new national minimum wage of N30,000.  They should tell their workers and their families that they cannot afford N30,000 as their monthly salaries. Alhaji Yari should desist from using the platform of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to seek political relevance. His tactics of blackmail against workers are already timeworn and the stench is already offensive.

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Organised Labour urge workers to remain steadfast and firm on our rights to decent wages and improved living conditions. To the oppressors, we have only one answer for you – we will never sleep on our rights.

We are now reiterating our directive to Nigerian workers to vote out any politician or political party that refuses to pay the new national minimum wage of N30,000.

We shall continue to consolidate our efforts to strengthen already existing platforms and structures to give teeth to our resolve to vote out anti-labour governors and other politicians in the forthcoming 2019 general election. This is why as Organised Labour and Nigerian workers, we have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to be wary of some people, especially in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who, because for their selfish and personal reasons, are presenting him as an anti-worker president and orchestrating anti-Buhari sentiments in the populace. We have also called on him to speedily transmit the bill on the National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly for appropriate amendment and implementation.

 

When the report was submitted to the president, he reportedly promised to ensure that the process of making N30,000 the official national minimum wage was expedited but some presidency officials later came out to claim that what was reported was not true and that the president was still studying the report. Should the president go back on his ‘promise’, what will be your reaction?

There are two issues involved. What was reported, the way I saw it is like once the report is made available today, the money will be made available tomorrow. No. All of us understood that there are some executive processes that will go into it and the final copy of the bill will be submitted to the National Assembly as an executive bill. The speech of the president is already online and therefore that was not the contestation. In any case, we are not leaving anything to chance. We will hold the president and the executive to their words. We have submitted our report and that was what was expected of the committee. They could not work if there was no report. In fact, the president made it clear that the process could not go further because he had constituted a committee and the committee was yet to submit its report, so how could he make a pronouncement on minimum wage? Now that the committee has submitted its report, we will know if there is a delay tactic. We will be mindful of that and we will react appropriately. We believe that the process should be able to deliver a new minimum wage to the pockets of Nigerian workers. Any delay is not acceptable to us.

 

Did the committee submit more than one figure in its report as speculated just before the submission?

I also saw on social media where people said the committee submitted two figures. That is not true. We submitted only one figure as a recommendation. What was submitted by the committee was a recommendation and that is the process.

 

And the figure is…

N30,000. You are aware. The chairperson read the speech. Some media platforms said we submitted two figures, which was false. Even some credible media organisations reported that, which was not true. I have warned them not to play politics with our minimum wage. Minimum wage is not about politics, it is about the demand of Nigerian workers. Minimum wage did not start today. In 2011, on the eve of a major election, minimum wage was due and was delivered. Clearly, this is our point of argument. It is a valid demand which needs to be met. We will hold people to their words. If there is any change in their words, we will remind them they made this promise and they must deliver on it. It is not a one-way approach, because we know there are forces that are against the workers and you have seen them emerge and make statements from both sides of their mouths. Workers will be mindful of that. We will put workers on notice. We will take note of those people and workers should not give them any support at any point in time. It is our responsibility and we can say that without any ambiguity. Politics is about interests. If any political leader will not be able to deliver on a promise that has been made, to deliver on minimum wage that will assist the workers, what then is the interest of workers? The interest in politics is about wellbeing; taking care of your welfare. It is a straightforward issue. It is something every Nigerian worker is mindful of. You vote because your welfare, your wellbeing and interest will be protected. In other climes, the contestations would be based on issues and minimum wage is an issue. Whether you like it or not, minimum wage is an issue for people to seek election even in an advance economies like the United States of America.

 

Is N30,000 even ideal in the face of the present economic reality?

In the context of Nigeria, because of low wage, people are working poor. If you calculate N30,000 and divide it by 30 days, divide it by family of four we are living on less than $2 per day. So, we are poor, even those on the minimum wage of N30,000, if it is four in a family, they are actually working poor, by global standard.

 

From the Labour’s perspective, is there a time frame for this process to be concluded?

Certainly. We want to say that reasonably, it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks for the executive to complete its work and transmit to the National Assembly. We also hope that at the National Assembly, it shouldn’t take more than one two weeks to do all the processes. In the National Assembly, once it is a tripartite issue, you don’t even need public hearing but it is their discretion to do that. They have seen the way the discussions have gone. Every right-thinking person in Nigeria today knows that this is a topical issue. They also know the consequences of any delay. So, we don’t think it should be delayed.

 

Should we be looking at end of December or January since elections come up in February?

If it can be delivered tomorrow, we are okay with it. But we will be reasonable in our approach. We don’t want to put a date that will influence their decision. We don’t want that; that could be counter-productive; it could work against our interest. We know what is reasonable and we know how to start our Labour procedure again.

 

Should it be after election?

Why should it be? So, you are one of the people who are enemies of Nigerian workers. I can see clearly now that you are against us. Why should you be praying such a prayer? In 2011, was it after election? I said, even tomorrow, we will be very okay with that.