What makes us better supervisors at work? Experience, intuition or ability to see the big picture immediately? Watching this video, the lady might have won via experience. And the man possibly had never seen this challenge before.

But that experience must not necessarily be this particular task which is to move all these containers from one location to another? Indeed, the lady scanned the problem, and quickly designed how to execute the tasks, seeing the end right at the beginning, unlike the man.

What they have done is what the mission of firms is all about: who can effectively combine and recombine factors of production to execute tasks towards creating products and services, required to fix the challenges customers have? If you have workers like the lady, you will win your sector, but if you have people like the man, you will possibly go bankrupt.

#TheBigPicture

What makes us better supervisors at work? Experience, intuition or ability to see the big picture immediately? Watching this video, the lady might have won via experience. And the man possibly had never seen this challenge before. But that experience must not necessarily be this… pic.twitter.com/VJUzLHwIDW

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) March 8, 2024

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has escalated its campaign for a substantial raise in the national minimum wage, with a fervent demand of N794,000 for workers in the Southwest geopolitical zone.

This resolute call was made by Funmi Sessi, the chairperson of the Lagos State chapter of the NLC, as part of the union’s unwavering dedication to improving the livelihoods of Nigerian workers.

“The national minimum wage is an issue that directly affects the livelihood of Nigerian workers. The minimum wage is the baseline level of income that workers are expected to earn and has far-reaching implications for economic growth, inequality, and social welfare,” she said.

Sessi was speaking at a public hearing of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in Ikeja, Lagos, where she accentuated the unanimous consensus among South West union members regarding the demand. She asserted that the current minimum wage inadequately supports a decent standard of living, labeling it a “starvation wage.”

Sessi stressed the need for a wage level that corresponds with economic realities and secures the well-being of workers.

She noted that the proposed minimum wage encompasses various essential expenses, encompassing food, housing, and other basic needs, providing a detailed breakdown, illustrating how escalating food prices necessitate a significant wage increase.

“On the issue of food, with the recent increase in the cost of food items, each person will have to spend about N1,000 on breakfast, lunch, and dinner because a scoop of cooked rice is now N400. So if we have to eat two scoops of rice with a small piece of meat, which is now N200, that’s about N1,000.

“For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if we had a total of these for each member of a family of six, that is about N3,000 per day. This is N3,000 multiplied by six and by 30 days, making about N540,000 for feeding. This is what we are asking the Federal Government.

“On housing and rent, we are asking for N200,000 per month, which amounts to about N2.4m less N100,000 for N2.5m when you want to rent decent housing within Lagos metropolis and likewise other states in the southwest region. After the removal of the subsidy, it’s like the landlord association held a meeting to increase house rent across the region. We are asking for N200,000 per month for housing,” she said.

Nevertheless, the proposal encounters resistance from certain quarters, including from Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, who stressed the importance of realistic and sustainable minimum wage negotiations at the state level. Adeleke highlighted the diverse financial capacities of states and urged for flexibility in setting wages based on each state’s resources.

Meanwhile, during the Southeast zonal hearing organized by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage on Thursday in Enugu, the Southeast chapter of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) advanced their proposals, with NLC proposing N540,000 and TUC advocating for N447,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the region. Fabian Nwigbo, the chairman of the NLC in Enugu, noted the erosion of the 2019 minimum wage value due to inflation, emphasizing the need for a wage increase reflective of current economic realities.

Nwigbo provided a comprehensive breakdown of the proposed wage, considering various expenses such as food, healthcare, education, and clothing.

“For us, we want to propose based on the prices of commodities in Nigeria. In 2019 when we had N30,000 minimum wage, a paint bucket of garri was N280, rice and beans were about N450 each while fuel was N145. This has continued to subsist till today where a liter of fuel is now N750 to N800 depending on the location.

“In the current state, a paint bucket of rice costs over N4000, and garri N2,500. Two two-bedroom flats in Enugu that used to be N250,000-N300,000 are now over N650,000 in the suburbs, and in the city, they stand at N1.2 million yearly.

“Everything is moving up except the salary paid to civil servants. We are praying the leadership of this country to consider the pains and sufferings of the Nigeria workers and citizens and give us something that is close to what we can use to survive,” he appealed.

Nwigbo stated that compared to the minimum wages in West African countries, Nigerian workers are the least paid, harping on the need for periodic wage reviews, and urged swift implementation across all states to alleviate workers’ hardships.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ben Asogwa, chairman of the TUC in Enugu, aligned with the NLC’s proposal, stressing the urgency of wage increments and the repercussions for non-compliant governors.

Expressing disappointment over the absence of representatives from civil societies and the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Tommy Etim, chairman of the event and deputy national president of TUC, highlighted the significance of broader stakeholder involvement in wage deliberations.

The demand for wage increments extends beyond the South West and South East regions, with proposals from other geopolitical zones reaching similar heights. For instance, the South-South region seeks N850,000, North West proposes N485,000, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) suggests N709,000 as the new minimum wage.

As Nigeria’s economic realities bite harder, the well-being of Nigerian workers depends so much on these negotiations. Their outcome will significantly impact the lives of millions of workers across the country, shaping the economic future of the Nigerian labor market.

In a move aimed at addressing investor concerns and bolstering participation in the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has unveiled plans to host a series of investor clinics across various regions of Nigeria throughout 2024.

This initiative comes in the wake of a highly successful three-day investor clinic held recently in Yobe State, organized jointly by the SEC and the Gombe State Investment and Property Development Company.

The forthcoming clinics are designed to address critical issues surrounding unclaimed dividends and related matters. Danladi Mohammed, head of the SEC’s Zonal Office in Kano, noted the significance of these clinics in educating investors about the advantages of e-dividend registration, the dematerialization of share certificates, and the direct cash settlement system.

According to Mohammed, the clinics aim to empower investors with the knowledge necessary to effectively manage their investments and mitigate the substantial levels of unclaimed dividends, which reportedly amounted to N190 billion as of August 2023.

A statement from the SEC emphasized the importance of the initiative as a key step towards reducing the prevalence of unclaimed dividends, particularly in regions where investor awareness and participation may be lacking. The Capital Market Development Master Plan 2015–2025 underscores the vital role of such initiatives in ensuring that investors can rightfully claim their dues.

“According to the Director General [Lamido Yuguda], the core mandate of the Commission is to regulate and develop the capital market of Nigeria to be at par with its counterparts in other jurisdictions in all ramifications and the Commission is not resting on its oars to achieving and sustaining that mission. The Commission will embark on a series of investor clinics in 2024 in all the regions of the federation to provide the platforms for investors to reap the benefits of investing in the Capital Market,” the statement said.

Yuguda reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to regulating and developing Nigeria’s capital market to meet international standards. He stressed the significance of investor engagement and outlined various strategies and measures in place to address the escalating issue of unclaimed dividends.

Recent developments have further highlighted the SEC’s dedication to enhancing the capital market’s contribution to national development. With President Bola Tinubu assuming office, the SEC has reiterated the market’s preparedness to support infrastructure development.

Yuguda expressed confidence in the Nigerian Capital Market’s capacity to facilitate capital mobilization through both domestic savings and foreign capital inflows, positioning it as a critical facilitator of the nation’s infrastructure objectives.

The upcoming series of investor clinics slated for 2024 are expected to offer tangible solutions to investors. By directly addressing the issue of unclaimed dividends, these clinics aim to restore investor trust and stimulate greater participation in the market.

The SEC’s nationwide investor clinics are designed to tackle longstanding challenges within the capital market. By educating investors and providing practical solutions, these initiatives seek not only to reduce unclaimed dividends but also to invigorate broader market participation, ultimately contributing to the overall development of the Nigerian economy.

If you gave someone money to start a non-profit and that person later converts the organization into a for-profit one. Even if you agree on that conversion, do you expect that organization to give you equity in that for-profit firm? And if that is the case, what would be the fair equity percentage? Yes, would it be based at the time the money was given or what the company is worth now?

As Elon Musk and OpenAI battle, I can tell you where Musk is going: OpenAI for-profit business, convert my original donation to equity, and send me my share certificate. Musk does not need to win any case for that to be the final outcome when we remember that kids who attended Mark Zuckerberg’s university dorm meeting as he envisioned Facebook were settled for contributing to Facebook even though they did not drop out with Mark, to build it. Yes, that Musk played along for the non-profit to for-profit transmutation does not mean his original donation should not give him equity.

If you see it differently, please let me know why you think Musk does not deserve a fair share of this profit-making OpenAI. Lawyers in the house, please help…

If you gave someone money to start a non-profit and that person later converts the organization into a for-profit one. Even if you agree on that conversion, do you expect that organization to give you equity in that for-profit firm? And if that is the case, what would be the fair… pic.twitter.com/M1km5x7teQ

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) March 7, 2024

In March 2024, Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, sued the company and its CEO, Sam Altman. Musk’s lawsuit claims that OpenAI has breached their founding agreement to develop AI for the benefit of humanity by partnering with Microsoft and stopping much of its internal research. Musk also claims that OpenAI has become a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft that is focused on making money instead of benefitting humanity.