Ajaero’s NLC, Osifo’s TUC: Beyond The Decoy Of Minimum Wage

In my personal analysis, I came up with the below data;

● Federal Civil Servants – 0.0207%

● State Civil Servants – 52.42%

● Private sector  – 47.55%

From the above data, it further means the following numbers of workers per each category;

Federal Government – 1,242,000

State Governments – 31,452,000

Private Sector  – 28,530,000

The Federal Civil Servants

The average wage bill per annum of the Federal Civil Servants grosses up to N3.5trillion. Meanwhile, many of these set of homo sapiens hardly come to the office. Many are outside the country up till now but still draw salaries till date. As obtainable today, Federal Civil Servants are ALL on monthly wage minimum of N65,000. Not many Nigerians are aware of this because Ajaero’s NLC and Osifo’s TUC will not want to tell that to Nigerians. This is even when workers in the private sector have been on same salary for years.

State Civil Servants

Today, many states of the Federation still find it very difficult to pay the N30,000 Minimum Wage introduced in 2019.

The annual wage pay across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT was put at N1.75trn in 2022. Of the 36 States, 15 States are yet to implement full payment of the N30,000 Minimum Wage Act even after former President Muhammadu Buhari signed same into law. These states include but not limited to Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Cross River, Abia and Imo among others.

Private Sector

I worked in a company for almost 15 years. While I was there, workers had only 10% increase in salary once. The entry level (fresh graduate) in the ‘big’ corporation was N63,000. I left the company during COVID-19 in year 2020. I asked a staff of same company recently about the salary structure. She told me same way I left it. So, this tells the tale of an average Nigerian worker in the private sector.

Probable Scenarios

With the current agitation by the combined labour forces and its insistence of N494,000 minimum wage. Below are the probable scenarios;

○ Families with housemaids or girls/boys may have to throw such workers out because the minimum expected of their employers to pay is N494,000.00. Is it a family that’s on less than N200,000 combined salary (husband and wife) that will pay a maid such amount?

○ Schools, especially private ones may have to downsize thereby increasing the unemployment rate in the country.

○ Increase in cost of doing business for both multinationals and MSMEs. Business owners should begin to plan for increased recurrent expenditure which will further lead to high cost of living.

○ NLC/TUC demand of N494,000 minimum wage means the least paid worker at any level and in any situation will receive minimum of N494,000. This means drivers, cleaners, gardeners, sales girls/boys et al. In truth, how realistic is this crazy demand?

Whose Interest?

The big question is, ‘Whose interest are the duo of Ajaero of NLC and Osifo of TUC serving?’ I recall the duo have constantly shown they are both partisan and are both members of Labour Party. If they want to play politics, 2027 is around the corner. They should wait till then, but not turn themselves to economic bandits cum terrorists. This is because that is what their action has purely shown. Ajaero, since Peter Obi, his kinsman lost out of the 2023 election has not stopped being overly stup!d with the dirty politics he has hitherto played.

My Position

The Federal Government should come up with an amount that is agreeable by the tripartite committee on Minimum Wage. That is the State Governments, Organised Private Sector and the Federal Government. And this should not be delayed further. While that is going on, the N35,000 Wage Allowance currently being paid to Federal Civil Servants should be sustained while State Governors, especially those among them who have not added a dime should be sensitive to workers’ pains.