Dogara
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon.Yakubu Dogara, has declared that the problem of corruption cannot be solved if the government is unable to pay workers a living wage.
Dogara, who stated this yesterday while declaring open a public hearing on the new minimum wage which was organised by the House Ad-hoc Committee on New Minimum Wage 2019, posited that the N30, 000 minimum wage being proposed was not enough to cater for a small family unit.
He added that it is only when workers are paid wages that can provide them minimum comfort that their productivity level will increase.
“When we do not pay living wage, we cannot tame corruption. When workers’ take-home (salary) 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, ‘I 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 have practised all this while.”
The speaker went on to emphasise that it was better to talk about living wage than minimum wage.
“The 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 of right to a living wage in Article 7(A)2 as incorporated in International Labour Organisation (ILO) document,” he said.
According to Dogara, 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 on account of the sense of despondency and powerlessness that their lack of economic power breeds, thereby making them ready tools in the hands of tyrants and demagogues, who in the course of history have always found it easy to mobilise such persons for the purposes of subverting democratic institutions.
He continued: “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 N30,000 minimum wage that labour is asking for is not enough to sustain a small family unit.
“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.
“I have said it 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.
“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.”
Dogara also revealed that the House of Representatives was giving accelerated consideration to the bill to forestall the threat by labour to embark on a industrial action, adding that the review of wages was long overdue since the current national minimum wage, which was fixed in 2011, had become unrealistic due to developments in the nation.
Meanwhile, members of the organised labour at the hearing differed with the ministers of labour and finance, Chris Ngige and Zainab Ahmed respectively, over the new minimum wage of N30,000 approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Members of the organised labour had booed the labour minister when he stated that the federal government’s figure was N30,000 and that any state government or private sector which wished to pay above that should do so.
The ministers, in their presentations, had confirmed that the initial wage figure approved by the federal government was N27,000, but that it was later reviewed upwards to N30,000 after it met with the National Council of State.
Labour minister, Ngige, stated that the issue of a national minimum wage was a national matter which the government was committed to, noting that the government set up a tri-partite committee comprising members of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and other groups, with the mandate of coming up with the new wage.
The minister asserted that the new wage figure was in tandem with internal conventions on labour matters and that there was a general consensus on the figure.
In her presentation, the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, told the stakeholders that the federal government was yet to factor in the new minimum wage into the 2019 budget.
On his part, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, told the lawmakers that the governors’ initial objection to the new minimum wage was because the revenue allocation formula was not favourable to the states.
Yari called for a review of the revenue allocation formula to ensure equity and fairness in revenue sharing among the three tiers of government.
He also stated that the governors’ forum supported the National Council of State’s position on the new wage bill. The Council had recommended N27,000 as minimum wage for federal civil servants.
The House ad hoc committee headed by deputy speaker, Hon. Lasun Yussuff, resolved to ensure that the new minimum wage Act 2019 is passed into law before the commencement of the 2019 general elections.
