Nigerian Workers Threaten to Trade Votes For Minimum Wage

Nigerian workers on May Day threatened to use their electoral power come 2019 against any government that refuses to pay the new minimum wage currently being negotiated in the country.

The workers also warned against any attempt to renegotiate their demand for N66,500 as the national minimum wage in the country. The existing minimum wage is N18,000.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, issued the threat on Tuesday in Abuja in his message to the Nigerian workers to celebrate May Day 2018.

"We are battle ready against public and private organisations that would refuse to conform to the new minimum wage," Mr Wabba threatened.

"At our disposal is the power of our votes! We shall ensure that governments that refuse to pay the new minimum wage will not receive the support of the working class, pensioners and their families."

Mr Wabba who said workers would resist any move to renegotiate the proposed minimum wage at any level, urged the government to approve the minimum wage law and ensure all employers in public and private sectors paid the N66,500 package without further delay.

Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, pledged that lawmakers would pass the minimum wage bill if it is presented to them by the executive.

In his speech, the labour leader said although the process to review upwards the national minimum wage was ongoing since the inauguration of the tripartite committee for that purpose last year, immediate payment would help pull workers out of poverty.

"An increase in the minimum wage will raise the levels of productivity and enhance the purchasing power of workers. The current demand of N66,500 as national minimum wage will only manage to meet the basic needs of the average Nigerian worker if inflation is kept at a single digit," he noted.

He enjoined the federal government to ensure federal allocations were not released to states and local governments that refuse to implement the new minimum wage.

Mr Wabba noted that despite reports about the country's economy exiting recession and on the path of growth and sustainable development, workers and their organisations were still confronted with significant challenges.

The NLC President, who spoke on the "Role of the Labour Movement in National Development: Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win," said despite their contribution to national development, workers still demand and struggle for improved conditions of service, standard of living and welfare.

From the first minimum wage of N125 in 1981 to the current N18,000, Mr Wabba said, workers have always been forced to "bargain so hard, wait for too long for wages that usually tend out to mock their contributions to national development."

Mr Wabba lamented the poor state of the country's economy, which he said has remained "essentially rent seeking" as a result of "systemic distortions" from over-dependence on crude oil revenue.

While commending the Buhari administration for attempting to diversify the economy, particularly through agriculture, the NLC boss drew attention to fundamental structural issues undermining inclusive growth and negatively impacting sustainable development.

With unemployment rate growing from 16.2 per cent to 18.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, the labour leader said the country's current economic structure hardly supports mass industrialisation and capacity for sustainable job creation for the teeming population of jobless youths.

He identified industrialisation as the only way out. He said although Nigeria was among the three leading economies in Africa, including Egypt and South Africa, the value addition by the country's manufacturing sector to the economy was too low.

Nigeria's gross domestic product is put at $406 billion; Egypt $332.3 billion and South Africa $294.1 billion.

But, value addition, in terms of manufacturing in South Africa is about 25 per cent; Egypt 20 per cent against Nigeria's less than five per cent.

"To meet the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, especially SDG 9 dealing with industry and innovation, Nigeria must urgently innovate, revive closed textile, steel and engineering mills. We must industrialise," Mr Wabba said.