The "doomsday" was long expected because the two parties to the labour dispute did not approach it with enough spirit of compromise. Organised Labour - the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Unions Congress, TUC - made good their threat to down tools following the failure to agree a new National Minimum Wage, NMW.
At the last count before the commencement of the "indefinite strike" in the wee hours of Monday 3, June 2024, Labour was demanding N494,000 per month as the NMW, while the Federal Government's "final" offer was N60,000. Labour's princely figure is based on what the leadership calls a "living wage", in view of the skyrocketing cost of living and inflation which arose from the harsh economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
In the past year, the Federal Government had commenced implementation of the removal of petrol subsidy, which pushed the cost of a litre of petrol from N180 to over N600. The Naira was also floated, which made it to lose more than twice its value relative to the Dollar and other foreign currencies. The cost of electricity had also been more than tripled, along with other new taxes and price increases which have further impoverished the people and grounded over 400,000 businesses.
Government has also failed to arrest the factors that fuel hunger, hardship and insecurity. Large swathes of our arable lands are still under the control of bandits, terrorists and armed herdsmen, making it difficult to attack the food inflation that fuels widespread hunger.
The Federal Government has been living large as if to insulate political office holders from the hardship. Rather than cut down the size of government, President Tinubu formed the largest cabinet in the nation's history and generously allocated funds to the National Assembly and the Judiciary. In June 2023, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, increased the pay of the President, Vice President and Governors and their Deputies by 114 per cent.
The president also gave away N90 billion for "Hajj subsidies". In view of all these, it was not surprising that Organised Labour came forward with their jumbo-sized minimum wage demands.
The tripartite committee on the NMW failed to broker an acceptable compromise because the two parties remained far apart. The Federal Government has already responded to the strike with threats of using a subsisting interim order of the National Industrial Court, NIC, to sanction workers who heed the call for strike.
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We call on the Federal Government and Labour to continue their negotiations, this time with realistic proposals. We need a new minimum wage that will enhance workers' pay without further worsening inflation or result in mass job losses.
The Federal Government must resist the temptation to resort to impunity because it could precipitate an impasse that will ground the system.
