The Necessity Of A Living Wage

The bona fides of a minimum wage for Nigerians is one issue that cannot be swept under the carpet. The minimum wage saga has metamorphosed into a ritual every five years actuated by the government to improve the lives of Nigerian workers.
However, it would appear that the present government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not been fair and sincere to Nigerians on the issue of the minimum wage.
It would be recalled that on assumption of office, Tinubu without being prompted promised Nigerians not just a minimum wage but a living wage. On the balance of hindsight and probability unless something spectacular happens, the Tinubu administration may have failed Nigerians on those two counts.
Ordinarily, the new national minimum wage was supposed to be sorted out and implemented last year but Tinubu pleaded with Labour to give him some time. Labour obliged Tinubu, believing him to be sincere, fair and square. Events playing out in stark technicolour indicate that there is an element of subterfuge in the entire minimum wage debacle.
While the Nigeria Labour Congress hinted initially of a high rise minimum wage, the Federal Government team brought the NLC team to baseline reality by claiming that they cannot pay above N60,000.
When Labour got frustrated and declared a national strike, the Federal Government’s team were able to convince Labour to come back to the negotiating table by promising to pay above N60,000.
Curiously, when Labour suspended the strike after grounding the national economy for a day, it is remarkable that the Federal Government team had to place their bargaining chip: a minimum wage of N62,000.
Even this does not appear to be conclusive, one solid takeaway from the negotiations is that the Tinubu-led Federal team is not committed to paying a living wage. When one considers the craft and guile being adopted by the Federal team.
To make matters worse, reports indicate that the Governors Forum are already flying a kite that state governors cannot pay the N60,000 minimum wage being mooted by the Federal team.
Even though Labour have crashed their initial high demands, the Federal team and Governor’s forum are still pussyfooting and dragging their feet.
This gives the preponderant impression that the Federal government is not in any hurry to pay Nigerian workers, a living wage. Their pretensions towards paying a minimum wage is grotesque by all standards going by their subterfuge.
It is sad that the welfare of Nigerian workers are being minimized and trivialized when political actors continue to lavish and dissipate our collective patrimony. Perhaps, Nigerian political leaders need to be reminded that democracy remains government by the people, for the people and for the good of the people.
However in negotiating a new minimum wage for worker, labor should also place on the table a demand for government to work towards bringing down prices of essential commodities and services like food, petroleum products and public transportation because if the prices of these essential goods and services remain high, they would make nonsense of the new higher wages being demanded by labour.
To all intents and purposes, their needs to be a paradigm shift to an arena where the people matter more than the concerted interest of few men.