Sometime last year, either out of excitement, trying to win acceptance or for reasons I cannot say, Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan (GEJ) announced a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers. People were happy, GEJ had what he wanted. Folks were singing his praises to high heavens. He wanted that acceptance, he got it.
What Mr. President failed to take into consideration was the different bottlenecks associated with things of this nature in Nigeria. In as much as there may be evidence(s) of personal gains (politically of course) and honest pity or otherwise of Nigerian workers, he did not consult well before making the matter public.
Trust the Nigerian populace, it was as if they were waiting for the gladdening news and they took it with all available enthusiasm. Many wanted to know whether the implementation was going to be immediate or if they were going to pay arrears whenever it was to be implemented.
Not a few government personalities got into trouble because of GEJ’s minimum wage. The announcement had this divisive tendency and just that it did. News filtered out that the Legislature was yet to pass the Minimum Wage Bill and Nigerians turned against the people who hold sway in the Hallowed Chambers. The leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives were called different names.
I am sure that was one of the reasons people shouted when the Central Bank Governor talked about the overhead cost of maintaining our system of governance and the overhead cost of maintaining the Legislature.
The major question now is when are we going to start earning the paltry N18,000? The least paid member of the House earns in millions in salaries and entitlements. They are paid allowances for Constituency Projects they will not do. State Houses of Assemblies are also not left out of the heavy pay packet jamboree. It then surprises me when they say some state cannot afford to pay N18,000 as the least salary when they can spoil their Special Assistants with ‘special’ salaries.
What exactly is the cause of the delay in implementing this new minimum wage? The furore this minimum wage has generated is too much, too much for comfort such that one begins to ask what the motive behind the announcement at that time was. The controversy is so much that by the time it will be paid, it will not be enough again (who ever said it was enough in the first place).
The N18,000 monthly translates into a paltry N600 daily, convert that to other major currencies and you’ll understand how ridiculously low the least paid Nigerian worker earns.
Truth is Nigerian workers deserve to earn more than they presently do. In all honesty, let us compare what our politicians (who do next to nothing) earn with what the average Nigerian worker (who works his fingers to the bones) earns. It is so small.
The new minimum wage is long overdue and I think all the bureaucratic and administrative bottlenecks associated with it be should sorted out on time. I have always been skeptical about salary increases in Nigeria. This is due to the fact that you get a salary raise and in some months, government increases the fuel pump price and the prices of foodstuff and other things go up.
It is the fact that our legislators get to approve their own jumbo allowances with the speed of light while the average Nigerian will have to wait endlessly that annoys most of our people.
What I think should be done is that government should without any hesitation again make that ‘coins’ available. At least N18,000 is no money to those in government circles; it is not even enough for them to lodge their ashewos or take their mistresses shopping. The Nigerian worker knows how much N18,000 is and needs it to augment his daily expenses.
At least, it will make some people smile. So can we have its implementation as soon as possible?
