Minimum Wage: Reasons Labour may not get what they’re demanding

There has long been speculation as to when Nigerian workers will start receiving a new minimum wage from the federal government led by President Bola Tinubu.

A tripartite committee of the government has met multiple times to draft a minimum wage proposal that would be presented to the national assembly for approval, but the process seems to be hampered by three factors.

This tripartite component consists of the financial resources, manpower, and political allegiances of the several stakeholders: labour, local, state, and federal government, as well as the organised private sector (OPS).

The state governors have stated that the federal government’s proposal, which sets the minimum wage at ₦62,000, is not sustainable, even though the federal government is representing the state and local governments in the negotiations.

A number of governors, mostly from the South, are in favour of devolution of power, which would let each state decide how much to pay. This view was shared by many analysts.

The governors’ reasoning supported the belief that since states receive and produce varying amounts of funding, it is only appropriate for them to bargain in accordance with each state’s financial resources.

As a result, the states will inevitably advocate for resource control since, once they determine employee compensation, they will also need to manage state resources.

In an interview with ZINGTIE, barrister Okanlawon Gaffar argued that governments should bargain over minimum wages according to their ability to pay them.

He stated: “I don’t think that the federal government should set the minimum wage to affect all states. This is itself the problem of our centralised government.

“Each state should be able to determine its own minimum wage based on its capacity. If Lagos can pay N150,000 as minimum wage and a state like Katsina can pay N30,000, so be it. States still make their own money despite receiving allocations from Abuja.”

Although there is a political undertone to this, the OPS is examining small and medium-sized businesses’ capacity to maintain the suggested minimum wage.

This is due to the OPS’s self-interest in light of the nation’s faltering economy and rising inflation. These factors rendered the work demands of ₦240,000 impractical.

In contrast, organised labour has portrayed itself as a political party, and unlike during Adams Oshiomhole’s administration, when many Nigerians seemed to be respected members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), their struggle is now seen as a political interest.

It should be emphasised that not all Nigerian workers are members of the Labour Party, despite the NLC’s assertion that the party belongs to the workers. Consequently, organised labour must avoid becoming more of a pressure organisation than a political party.

The NLC’s political position could be a contributing cause to the delay in the new minimum wage’s implementation. Instead of seeing organised labour as the pressure group it truly is, the administration might be viewing it as a political party.

There was a lack of discussion about the new minimum wage at the most recent National Economic Council meeting, which President Bola Tinubu unexpectedly attended. This gave the false impression of the government.

The country’s hard economic realities haven’t stopped the growing demand for a minimum wage increase.

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