Speaker Yakubu Dogara says the proposed N30, 000 minimum wage can barely feed a small family unit.
Speaking at a public hearing on the New Minimum Wage organised by the House Ad-Hoc Committee on New Minimum Wage
on Monday, January 27, 2019, Dogara noted productivity can only
increase when workers are dignified with wages that can provide them
minimum comfort.
The speaker stated that the two focal points
that must be given priority by government are poverty and corruption
stating that while the former, caused mainly by underemployment and
unemployment, is a threat to democracy, the latter fundamentally
undermines democratic institutions and values.
He, therefore, proposed for a more
reasonable living wage that will not only provide for basic needs of the
workers but also enable them to make provisions for themselves that
will lift them out of poverty and lead to a reduction in corruption.
He explained that poverty as a threat to
democracy is evident in vote buying and in the use of money to
compromise electoral and security officials during elections, thereby
subverting the will of the people.
“While
we are not oblivious of the current economic downturn and the dwindling
revenue of Government, we cannot also be blind to the fact that all
economic indices indicate that even the 30,000 Naira Minimum Wage that
Labour is asking for is not enough to sustain a small family unit,” Dogara said.
“The nation may not have enough to satisfy
the minimum demands of the Nigerian worker, but as a nation, we need to
set our economic priorities right and ensure that we dignify our
workers by making allowance for their minimum comfort. I know of no
alternative if we hope to up the productivity level of our workforce.
“If that is the case, can we say that
Nigerian workers are enjoying the promise of democracy? Can we say that
millions of our youth who roam the streets daily in search of
non-existing jobs are enjoying the promise of democracy? Absolutely, no.
This is because, although they are alive and free, they lack the means
with which to pursue happiness. While the workers are underemployed, the
latter are unemployed.
“I have said before that poverty
is the greatest threat to our democracy. Those who doubted me have seen
that threat manifest itself in vote buying and in the use of money to
compromise electoral and security officials during elections.
“On account of the sense of despondency
and powerlessness that poverty breeds amongst the poor, the poor have
and will always remain ever ready tools in the hands of tyrants and
demagogues, who in the course of history, have always found it easy to
mobilize for the purposes of subverting democratic Institutions. Since
underemployment and unemployment are bedmates of poverty, eliminating
them must be the focal point of government’s policies.
“The next evil is corruption. It is not in
doubt that corruption fundamentally undermines democratic institutions
and values. Corruption affects the poor most because they depend more on
government for support. How then do we fight corruption from the roots
rather than dealing with its symptoms as is currently the case? The
answer is for us to begin to pay workers living wage not minimum wage.
“When we do not pay living wage, we cannot
tame corruption. When workers take home is not enough to take them
home, the temptation for them to cut corners in order to get home will
always be there.
“Workers keep and process our national
wealth and the only way to insulate them from the temptation to want to
help themselves to it, is to ensure they are well remunerated. It is not
in contention that it is a mean job to muzzle an ox when it treads out
the grain. Leaving workers to their temptations is dangerous unless we
can show that they are greater than Oscar Wilde, who in his vintage
wicked wit, proclaimed, ‘can resist everything except temptation.
“That we cannot pay living wage in a
nation that represents a major promise for economic prosperity in the
world speaks to the bane of our leadership. In order to reverse these
tragic narratives, we must invest in proactive and innovative leadership
not the reactive leadership model that we practiced all this
while. Reality is, I am not a believer in minimum wage although it is a
constitutional issue and the practice in many nations. I believe in
living wage and wish the framers of our Constitution had provided for a
living wage instead. No wonder the UN Covenant on Economic, social and
cultural rights speaks to rights to a living wage in Article 7(A)2 as
incorporated in International Lab our Organization document.
“Therefore, I cannot wait for that Nigeria
to emerge wherein workers are paid wages that would not only take them
home but have a portion to spare in savings in order to pursue happiness
and give their children the training that they could ever dream of.
“That should be our national goal going
forward if we hope to ever make it to the club of elite nations. If we
do not ever make it to the point where we can have a conversation about
Economic justice, it would not be because it’s impossible to achieve but
because we lack the right leadership. We have talked about ending so
many things in Nigeria, now is the time to talk about creating wealth
and ending poverty; and those who bear the burden of the nation must be
the first beneficiaries.”
He said the House of Representatives is giving
accelerated consideration to the very crucial Bill to forestall the
threat by the labour force to go on strike and because it is long
overdue since the current National Minimum Wage, which was fixed in
2011, has become unrealistic due to supervening developments in the
nation.
The National Council of States has adopted N30,000 minimum wage for Federal workers and N27,000 for their state counterparts.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has, however, rejected the N27,000 peg for state workers. The labor union wants a uniform minimum wage for all workers across the country.
