President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba has said that the National Minimum Wage Committee was yet to submit its report to the President because it was yet to agree on a figure and the failure of the federal government to come up with a figure to be agreed upon.
Wabba said in an interview in his office that while the committee has concluded its deliberation, the Minister of Labour told the Committee that the federal government needed to consult before coming up with its own figure, a position he said negates the earlier agreement to work within its timeline.
The Minister had told newsmen in Anambra that state governors were frustrating the work of the committee, but Wabba said 21 states actually made presentation to the committee with many of quoting figures while some other said they would abide by whatever decision was arrived at.
He said organised Labour has called a meeting all its organs with a view to informing them of the development, pointing out that a definite position will be announced after the meeting as the minimum wage is already two years behind the scheduled date.
Wabba said “if you recall, the minimum wage committee was inaugurated in November 2017, but started its assignment in March 2018 due to logistics reasons. At its inaugural meeting, all parties produced a work plan which spelt out the modus operandi and duration of the work of the committee.
“By the work plan, we were supposed to end our work and submit our report by the 21st of August. Unfortunately, that date fell on a public holiday and so, it was agreed that the 4th and 5th September be used to complete the work of the committee. All members were committed to the completion of the work of the committee and forwarding it to the appropriate quarters.
“At that meeting, we were able to complete the entire report. But just before we conclude, the Minister of Labour spoke at that occasion as representative of the federal government, saying they needed to go and consult before arriving at a figure.
“The federal government came and said they have not finished their consultations and that they need time to consult. But it was all of us that took the decision to have a work plan.
“We felt that since this committee was inaugurated in November, we thought that everybody was aware that all stakeholders needed to tidy up whatever consultations they needed to do and make sure that we are able to work within that timeline.
“Clearly speaking, they were not prepared to produce a figure by that date. But our report has been completed. What is left is just to agree on a particular figure. All the parameters to be used to arrive at a figure are there.
“I can say clearly that states have sent in memorandum. Infact, 21 states sent in memorandum, with about 12 quoting figures, NECA has submitted a figure, organized labour has submitted a figure. What we thought was that we should be able to complete that assignment by the 5th of September.
“With the new development and they saying that they want to consult, we could say that it is not a fair process if somebody is saying at this point that he has not consulted.
“On our part as organised labour, we will meet formally and issue a formal statement and see how we can make sure that the interest of Nigerian worker is not in any way undermined. This is where we are and we think that is proper that we put the fact before our members.
“We have already called for our organ meetings where we will brief them because it is ion public domain that both government and labour agreed that the timeline must be respected when they were saying that September is not feasible.
“We are committed to respecting the timeline and that is why we left everything we are doing to do the needful to be able to do a good job. All the parameters you can think of have been considered and the report is ready. But the only thing missing is the issue of figure and we know that at this point in time, Nigerian workers will like such news.
“That is the position they took and we have said that we will appropriately communicate this to our people and agree on our next line of action. This is where we are and we have already scheduled those meetings and we all will issue a statement on this. It is very important to organized labour, both those in the public and private sector and we will let them know where we are.”
Speaking on the statement credited to the Minister that states were frustrating the work of the committee, Wabba said “Individual states quoted figures and every state was given the opportunity to make presentation. A letter was written to every state by the secretariat to send in their memo, making their inputs and 21 of them actually made inputs.
“You are aware of the figures quoted by organized labour. We have enough data to do justice to the work and we have actually done justice to the work. I am telling you that this is what has happened. But a particular figure which should be agreed upon is not, but we have actually started agreeing on that.
“There were proposals and counter-proposals before this information came directly from the Minister of Labour that there is a committee of the federal government led by the Minister of Budget and National Planning who were supposed to have sent in their input, but did not.
“There was enough time for everybody to make input. Now that the report should have been consummated, some people are saying they need time for consultation. We thought that should not have been the situation because of the importance of the issue to Nigerian workers and the workers can also not continue to be patient.
“We are already about two years behind schedule. The 2011 minimum wage collective agreement by all parties agreed that a review will be due after five years and we all know when that period is due. Started behind schedule and I must say that the committee did a lot of work to reach where we are presently. All parties have been very committed and despite all distractions, we have been to drive the process.
“They are at liberty to quote figures and we are at liberty to also quote what we think is right. It is a process of dialogue and consultation and at the end of the day, we have to agree on something. We are satisfied that they came up with something they want us to consider. What is important is that they are committed to reviewing the minimum wage. That is why they came up with the options.
“Every state should answer their own name and the workers of that state will engage them. I don’t want us to hide under the omnibus name. Every governor must first answer their names.
“What we have agreed is that if a governor is not willing to comply, let him go back to his own state, call the workers and tell them he will not pay the minimum wage and we will take it from there.
“Let the minister not speak form the governors. He should speak on behalf of the federal government. Even the last one we had, the governors forum never made any submission. It was individual states that sent in memo because what is recognized by law is individual states.
“If we do the needful and prioritise our needs, states will be able to pay. As we speak there are states that are doing extremely well in the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage. The issue is not about resources, but management of those resources”.
