I received a severe backlash from colleagues, teachers and mentors when I wrote an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in March 2024....
I received a severe backlash from colleagues, teachers and mentors when I wrote an open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in March 2024. From their comments, you'll wonder if in that letter I asked the president to sack all federal government workers and replace them with new ones altogether. Or I asked the president to reduce the workers' salaries and stop their allowances. Funnily, I did none of those things.
The grave sin I committed was appealing to the president not to increase the salary/wages of workers but rather, to focus on an economically driven approach to revive our dwindling economy and boost productivity. I emphasized the need to increase the country's productivity; and maintain a good foreign exchange and a favourable balance of payment instead of ploughing more money into the economy under the guise of "salary increment" or "providing succour to Nigerians".
I was under intense pressure to shift ground or retract my statement as they believed the entire letter was derogatory, incisive and abusive to the workers and their "sacred" union. I stood firm and resolved not to yield or conform with the crowd to subscribe to an economy with ample money but meagre purchasing power. At a point, I was afraid their mother union (NLC) might declare an indefinite strike until I retracted my statement, but luckily, and glory be to God, they didn't.
Even with the recent rancour and uproar for an increase in the National minimum wage, I still maintain my stand on introducing the outrageous wage proposed by NLC. I believe the organised labour which is a union comprising of intellectuals and industry experts, should've known the cons of increasing minimum wage in the face of a dwindling and crippling economy trapped by inflation.
The Nigeria Labour Union (NLC) and its daughter union, ASUU, are known by Nigerians for their inscent strike at the drop of a hat. The strike which, we all agree, has lost its meaning and impact in the 21st century.
If not, tell me how the Transmission company and Hospital strike will affect our leaders living in their solar-powered houses and moving around with private doctors. The elites and Vanguards (leaders) of the union will always manoeuvre their way out at the detriment of the masses. Leaving small business owners whose businesses depend solely on electricity, and their lives depend on public Hospitals, with no option but to liquidate and die painfully in the hands of strike-oriented doctors. The motive or objective of the strike will, in such circumstances, boomerang back to innocent and dedicated members of the NLC.
Mr. Joe, Is strike the only viable option?
That aside, exactly a year ago, organised labour declared an indefinite strike which paralyzed the whole country because their leader was assaulted by an unknown group in Edo state. Instead of the intellectually-driven union to seek redress in the Edo state, the Union was only interested in disrupting the activities of innocent business owners and workers in the Federal Capital Territory leaving those who committed the atrocities to go scot-free.
Not long ago, organised labour promised to embark on an indefinite until the federal government returned the fuel subsidy. However, after a few days, we saw the Vanguards of the struggle shaking hands and throwing banters at government officials, before you say pip– strike suspended. The palliative, wage award and NLC are nowhere to be found.
We were all witnesses to when the organised labour kept throwing empty threats when ASUU embarked on strike for almost a year without any tangible result, but today they're back with their archaic ways of solving economic problems; "strike" and "salary increment".
I believe the major reason why the organize labour unions are calling for an increase in the minimum wage is for their members to have a decent "living minimum wage" to cater for their needs and their immediate families. I'm afraid this ultimate goal will not be achieved through SALARY INCREMENT alone.
This is logical, if the federal government agree to the amount being taunted and proposed by NLC, the organized private sector must adjust to comply with the new reality. This invariably means increasing the cost of production thereby leading to an increase in the price of goods and services. Increased prices mean a general increase in the cost of living that could essentially negate any advantage gained by workers having more Naira in their pockets. Will the NLC advocate for Salary increment again?
Apart from increasing the prices of goods, private business owners will have to retrench their workforce to comply with the new norm. This, we all know, will result in an enormous increase in the unemployment rate which I believe Nigeria is not ready for because we have sufficient unemployed youths roaming the streets with no place to sleep.
Increasing the salary of less than 10% population of the country and ignoring the well-being of over 90% will not in any way address the economic challenges of our dear Nation. The federal government should be intentional and sincere in its quest to promote Agriculture for self-reliance, subsidize Education, prioritize infrastructure and support local businesses. This will in return strengthen our foreign exchange and boost local productivity. Nigeria's economy is too fragile to be disrupted by recurrent strikes.
It's high time we start scrutinizing the actions and inactions of NLC and pressuring them to discard their archaic way of solving problems and substitute them with viable and workable measures to tackle our economic impediments. Crying over the minimum wage will take us back to the doom we are running from. Take, for instance, the minimum wage in China and UK is $370 and £1,950 respectively. Now, Cast your mind back to when the dollar is at par with the Naira and assume our minimum wage of #30,000 is $30,000, don't you think that is more than enough?
Sani Bello Hamza Law student at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He writes from Zaria and can be reached on 09013506168 or sanibellohamza@gmail.com
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