David Amusa, Port Harcourt
At the South-South public hearing on the review of the National Minimum Wage held in Port Harcourt, on Friday, the Minister of Labour and Productivity who doubled as Deputy Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, Dr. Chris Ngige exchanged hot words in the disguise of a joke with the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Barrister Nyesom Wike.
It all began when Ngige opened the floor with the normal protocol and referred to Governor Wike as a member of People Deceive People (PDP).
That comment did not go down well with Governor Wike who in his response retorted that the Minister was of PDP in all his blossom political career and just yesterday he became the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Since then, what he was known for left him.
“A man who did well under PDP in Anambra state; a man who PDP has always been proud of and who today is the honourable minister of Labour and Productivity to serve Nigeria not because he is a member of the other political party. PDP has to loan him for him to serve Nigeria and by the special grace of God, he will come back to his family”, Gov. Wike stated.
Speaking further,the governor cautioned Nigerians to be wary of the minimum wage exercise of the federal government which is coming at the heels of the 2019 general elections as a Greek gift.
He said that the Nigerian workers have passed through thick and thin in a worse economy inflicted by the present administration through wrong policies, ineptitude and lack of focus.
“For some of us, it is difficult to be convinced that this whole exercise is accentuated by genuine concern for the well being of the Nigerian workers and their families who are suffocating under the worst economic nightmare brought on them by the failed economic policies of this present federal government. Rather the truth is that they are now talking about increasing the national minimum wage for the practical purpose of getting some unmerited political capital as 2019 general election approaches. I hope our workers will not fall for this Greek gift”.
Gov. Wike said that he was in sympathy with Nigerian workers and advised that minimum wage should be in the concurrent list where each state and the federal government can independently fix the minimum wage.
“It is our view that the country and its workers will be better off if the states are allowed to pay their own minimum wage in line with the prevailing cost of living and ability to pay”.
He said that some states depending on the performance of their economy can fix their minimum wage high or low while the federal government could fix their own also on what they could afford to pay, pointing out that it was illogical for the federal government to determine the wage not minding the economic status of states.
“Even if there is a justifiable need for a minimum wage, it is still wrong and unfair for the federal government to dictate, mandate and set the same minimum wage for all the states knowing full well that they are not of equal economic capability”.
Earlier in his speech, the minister said that the public hearing was organized to spread through the six geo-political zones to ensure that workers and employers in all parts of Nigeria make input to the minimum wage particularly “to consider a level of acceptance and implementable understanding that will eschew descent work deficit”.
He further stated that the minimum wage was the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their workers, pointing out that ‘it is the price floor below which workers may not yield their labour’.
The minister said that the federal government was concerned about the plight of the Nigerian workers as our economy weathers through the storm.
He expressed the wish of the federal government to have men and women who will be engaged in productive work in all equable conditions of freedom to associate and bargain collectively with equality and human dignity.
Dr. Ngige said that this minimum wage will afford the attainment of social protection floor for Nigerian citizens.
Explaining what social protection floor means, he stated that it is when the minimum wage can guarantee access to food, shelter, essential healthcare apart from the basic income security which together secure effective access to goods and services necessary in the life circle.
Presenting the position of Nigerian Labour Congress in the South-South, Comrade Beatrice Otubo called for a living wage for workers.
“The minimum wage should be N66,500. The above minimum wage should be reviewed upward every five years. The new minimum wage should also provide for automatic review of pensioners monthly pension as soon as the new minimum wage takes effect. The workers in the South-south especially Rivers state should be paid some special allowance peculiar only to them to enable them cope with the cost of living and environmental hazards a result of oil exploration and exploitation in their states. Price control mechanism be effectively put in place to check inflation so that the gains to be achieved in the increase in the minimum wage will not be eroded”.
Also speaking, representative of Trade Union Congress in the South-South, Comrade Austin Jonathan pleaded that pensioners should be considered in the new wage regime.
The public hearing attracted the representatives of the Governors of Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Delta States. Also present at the meeting were labour leaders from the six states of the geo-political zone.
