By Onwuasoanya FCC Jones
Comrade Joe Ajaero and his colleagues at the TUC should not be dismissed as clowns or saboteurs like some writers have done, hastily.
The truth is that the key drivers of the NLC and TUC struggle are genuinely interested in actualising better living conditions for ordinary Nigerians, in line with their responsibilities as leaders and representatives of not just Nigerian workers, but all Nigerian masses.
However, like every human, these Labour leaders are bound to miscalculate or allow their personal emotions to overcloud their sense of good judgement, sometimes. Looking at how things are in Nigeria, it would take people with unfeeling hearts not to feel frustrated. But, as leaders in different sectors and at different levels, it is important for us to put our sentiments in check and come about our decisions in ways that our genuine objectives would not be defeated.
On the face value, the proposal of about 500k monthly as Minimum wage might look like it is a demand for increment, but if we study it more critically, it might be found that what Joe Ajaero is asking for, is rather a drastic reduction in the salary of Nigerian workers and by implication, further suffering for our workers and ordinary Nigerians.
I will not bother us with academic theories in economics, because that’s not my specialty, but will try to approach this from what I will call a commonsense economic analysis and theories.
Assuming the Federal Government does not really care about the future of Nigeria and just wanted to be seen as the administration that oversaw a huge increment in the salary of Nigerian workers, they could go ahead and agree with the new wage proposal, which by practical analysis, is actually less valuable than when the minimum wage was 8,500 Naira. The purchasing power of 8,500, as at 2008 or thereabouts, might be superior to 400,000 Naira, by the time we factor in the prevailing exchange rate, current inflation rate and the potential inflation rate should such an amount be approved as the new minimum wage.
To be clear, the idea of a national minimum wage is that, it becomes a crime, if any employer of labour fails to pay their workers the approved minimum wage. It means that the least amount of money I would pay my farm hand in my farm will not be less than 400,000 Naira, and those who run small businesses like myself will also not pay less than that minimum wage to their lowliest workers. For instance, a salesgirl in a small provision shop will not be paid anything less than 400,000 Naira as salary, and cleaners at our various private schools will also have to go home with the same amount.
The immediate implication of this reality is that as soon as this new minimum wage is approved, every business owner and service provider will have to review the prices of their goods and services in order to be able to meet up with the payment of their staff and other expenses needed to run their businesses effectively.
The same way we are going to have over 1000% increment in salaries is the same way we will have 1000% in the increment of the prices of goods and services, thereby, crashing our purchasing power. What we might have bought with 10,000 Naira today, we will likely not be able to purchase it with 100,000 Naira after the minimum wage increment.
The only time since this Fourth Republic that Nigerian workers could really boast that they had a good wage increment was during the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo. One didn’t need to be an economist to measure the immediate impact of the minimum wage increment during Obasanjo’s time, as workers across Nigeria instantly had an improved income.
We even had a car called “Minimum wage” because workers, teachers and other low-level government workers were able to buy Opel Omega sedan cars for themselves, many civil servants bought lands, built houses and were able to send their children to university. Subsequent increments in our Minimum wages since Obasanjo has been one bad comedy after another, as workers cannot readily define how those increments actually impacted on their living conditions. If anything, those increments have always worsened their financial conditions.
Instead of the drama of asking for 500,000 Naira minimum wage, Joe Ajaero and his Comrades should rather design a realistic plan that guarantees stronger purchasing power for our currency. It can be argued that these gentlemen are innocently ignorant, hence, their insistence on a proposal that would deepen the suffering of ordinary Nigerians. But if they insist that they are not ignorant, then, they could merely be joking.
But it would be irresponsible for such great individuals entrusted with a responsibility to negotiate better living conditions for us to be frolicking around for fun, at the risk of ruining our already troubled economy.
MAY NIGERIA PREVAIL!
