As the Nigerian economic situation bites harder, workers are increasingly finding it hard to cope as salaries could no longer par with the cost of living.
Thus, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has recommended a 50 percent salary increase review across board to ameliorate the suffering.
In a letter dated August 8, addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the NLC said the current economic situation requires an upward review of salaries to enable workers to cope.
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“While we commend you for your thoughtfulness for a wage increase, truth of the matter is that given the misfortune that has befallen the Nigerian populace, especially workers with fixed incomes, there is an urgent need for a massive intervention much deeper than the 22 percent,” the letter, signed by NLC President Ayuba Wabba, said.
“We would recommend a 50 percent salary review across the board given the realities on ground.”
The recommendation came on the heels of state governors’ prescription to peg retirement at 50 years. The NLC had last week, lambasted the governors for expressing such an idea.
“We find this repugnant, shameful and utterly irresponsible. Aside from running contrary to your mission and principle of creating 100 million jobs (aside from poverty intervention schemes), this policy is a clear invitation to anarchy and damnation. Those promoting this idea should be treated as enemies of your government,” the union said in its letter to Buhari.
In a further argument, the NLC had said the implementation of the proposal will lead to the sacking of almost a quarter of the public sector workforce, the decapitation of that workforce through the retrenchment of its most experienced layer, and the intensification of poverty and misery among citizens.
“We find it necessary to reiterate our position here once again that any action or process or policy that will lead to the loss of jobs or incomes by workers will not only be inhumane and unconscionable, but shall be resisted by us,” it said.
In the proposal, the governors had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to begin the implementation of the updated Stephen Oronsaye Report, which recommended merger and shutdown of agencies and parastatals with duplicated or contested functions as a way to address bureaucratic inefficiency and reduce the cost of governance.
The union said that it considers as heartless the recommendation that the planned 22 percent salary increase for workers be put on hold, “given the massive devaluation of the naira leading to the pegging of the naira at 675 to the dollar at the parallel market, inflation rate at 18 percent, increased energy and sundry tariffs, combustive commodity prices and prohibitive cost of living which have wiped out every vestige of the value of their salaries.”
It further stated that at over N600 to a dollar, the minimum wage of N30, 000 amounts to no more than $42.8 for a family of four for 30 days.
However, the feasibility of salary increase by the federal government at this time of economic crisis has come under doubt. Many states across the federation are yet struggling to pay the newly implemented N30,000 minimum wage.
A survey published by BudgIT, a Nigerian civic tech organization, on Thursday, shows that 12 states across the federation have been unable to pay workers for months. According to the survey’s report, states like Abia, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Taraba owe three years or less in arrears. Others are also caught owing six months or less.
In an interview with TheCable on May 1, Wabba identified Cross River, Zamfara, Taraba and Abia as states yet to implement the 30,000 monthly minimum wage. Even for the states that have implemented the minimum wage, honoring it has become a challenge.
A recent report noted that Borno State is paying teachers as low as N6,000 per month. The federal government has also been depending on loans to execute its recurrent expenditures.
With these realities, compounded by Nigeria’s revenue turmoil, the possibility of the federal government bending to the NLC’s demand for 50 percent workers’ salary increase, is said by economists to be practically unattainable.