By Onyebuchi Ezigbo:
The federal government has said that it will soon embark on the re-adustment of salaries and allowances of civil servants, so as to bring it in line with the economic realities in the country.
Government’s position came just as the former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has expressed support for workers’ genuine agitation for better conditions of service, based on the current economic indices.
In this vein, the pioneer president of NLC, Alhaji Hassan Sumonu, blamed the federal government for allegedly neglecting investment in the key area of human resource development following prolonged shutdown of federal universities.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who spoke at the public presentation of the book “Contemporary History of Working Class Struggles” by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday in Abuja, said that government is planning a review and adjustment of all public servants to align it with economic realities.
He said that the renegotiation of salaries and conditions of service of the striking university lecturers is a prelude to the eventual adjustment of salaries of other categories of workers.
On the stalled negotiation with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ngige, who defended government’s decision to refer the dispute between it and ASUU to the National Industrial Court for adjudication, said the measure became necessary since ASUU appeared implacable and negotiations failed.
He said that government adhered strictly to the dictates of labour laws by allowing the matter to be decided at the court.
He said there is the need to correct the erroneous impression that the agreement with ASUU being discussed is that of the 2009, adding the 2009 agreement has long been renegotiated in 2013-20 under the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.
He further said that action had been progressively taken on the Memoradum of Understanding (MoU) resulting from the agreement, adding that the federal government only has one area left to be resolved which is the issue of the review of salaries and conditions of service.
The minister, who blamed the intractable nature of some of the labour disputes the country has witnessed in recent times to inadequate knowledge of labour laws and rules of engagement in collective bargaining, said that the federal government will soon approve the upgrading of Micheal Imodu Institute of Labour Studies in Ilorin to a degree-awarding institution to help prepare labour leaders and employers on the tenets dispute resolution.
On his part, former Edo State Governor, Oshiomhole, said the leadership of organised labour should stop agonizing or lamenting and organise to fight for a new minimum wage that is in line with the realities of time.
He said they should fight for dolarized wages since most indices of the economy are measured in dollars.Oshiomhole said that having tasted both sides of the divide, as labour activist and serving in government, “I will say that from what I know now, having been governor of a state, having served in government as party chairman, I am much more convinced that I ought to have fought even harder as labour leader”.He said that government is an act of bias, adding that a lot of government policies are skewed to benefit certain elements.“Every government policy has gainers and it has losers,” he said. Oshiomhole, who served as the chairman of NLC during the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration, said he may no longer join in workers’ protest against adverse policies, but he will support their action. “We do trade union not to agonize or lament but to organise and fight for the interest of workers. Government is about interests and there is no such thing as one direction about it,” he said.Speaking on the government’s excuse of inability to meet workers’ demands for pay rise, Oshiomhole said there is no such thing as that because you cannot use the principle selectively.“When you are buying bullet proof cars or Mercedes Benz, do they charge you according to the limitation of the states or what it can pay. No, you buy it at same price others buy. So why is it different when it comes to payment of salaries to workers,” he asked.On the forthcoming 2023 general election, Oshiomhole said that he told some All Progressives Congress (APC) youth groups on Sunday that they should not be looking forward to a government that will only ensure improved GDP or the largest GDP in Africa, but the one that enthrones an economy in which will be far better than other people in other countries in Africa.
He said that the GDP will only count if the welfare and living standards of the people are factored in, adding that it is a sad situation that the children of the poor are at home due to the ASUU prolonged strike and no one is talking about it in various conversations on television except politics.
He said he would like labour unions and other concerned Nigerians at moments like this to summon courage to speak the truth to power.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in his welcome address, said that the publication is the first time that the Congress will be writing down its history in a book form.
He said the book chronicled the life of the Labour Congress in the last 40 Years.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said that NLC has maintained its principled position as a leftist on issues of governance and people’s welfare over the years.
On his part, the the pioneer president of the NLC, Alhaji Sumonu, criticized the federal government’s handling of the ASUU strike.
Speaking in the same vein, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Usifo, said that organised labour is in solidarity with the university workers over their demand for improved infrastructure and conditions of service.
Usifo said that if the federal government is to undertake a sincere probe of the amount being spent of fuel subsidy today, a large chunk of recoveries from it will be enough to send ASUU back to the classroom.
The TUC boss said that labour unions had always engaged in a just cause in all their agitations over the years.
According to him, the labour movement is indivisible and just as their role to protect the welfare of its members can never be obliterated.
