President Bola Tinubu extends his warm congratulations to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her 70th birthday.

President Tinubu rejoices with the remarkable leader and her family on this momentous occasion.

The President extols the former Minister of Finance for her service to the nation and efforts towards building resilient institutions.

President Tinubu also commends the Director-General of the World Trade Organization for being a worthy ambassador of Nigeria, exemplifying the grit, diligence, and brilliance that Nigerians are known for.

The President prays for many more years in good health for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and her family.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

As I was saying…From experiences of the aftermath of every struggle, the gains turn out to be illusions. The worker comes out worse in the end and, indeed, the general populace who have to grapple with fresh and enervating inflationary currents. The Scarghilian tool of yesterday does not necessarily fit today into the compass to chart the way to the land of joy and happiness in present-day living. What do I mean? I will come to it presently. Through strikes in the quest for higher wages, minimum wages, justice, fairness and what have you on the shop floor, the worker gets the short end of the stick.

Six years ago, on a similar occasion as this, I did state, paying fulsome homage to our Labour leaders of old, their successors and some in contemporary times as follows: “We must give it to the labour of our heroes past, that workers have been rescued out of the Ricardian world and given recognition and dignity. What would have been the state of affairs for workers but for the heroic struggle and doggedness of legendary Michael Imoudu in the Nigerian Railways; HP Adebola; Wahab Goodluck; Dr. Tunji Otegbeye; Hassan Sunmonu; Ali Ciroma; Kokori and my friend, Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole and several others in the vanguard? Step forward and be counted in the Hall of Fame, articulate Ayuba Wabba. What would have been the state of our universities today, unflattering as it even is, but for the sacrifices of ASUU and its predecessor prohibited by the military government decades ago?  It is in this context that the vigilance of Ayuba Wabba and later that of his successor, Joe Ajaero, with his comrade in arms, Festus Osifo of TUC can be appreciated. It is in this context that the struggle by the university teachers as of today being paid $300 can be seen and the commitment and sacrifices of Professor Biodun Ogunyemi and his successor, Professor Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, and their colleagues applauded. The take-home pay of a professor is too scandalous to even be whispered to Wole Falodun of Lagos Weekend fame and say to him: “Do not say I told you!”  There was a time university lecturers were almost not able to fuel their cars. At a time, they were accused of teaching what they were not paid to teach. Today in the same environment, as I pointed out last week, political leaders are living in obscene opulence, the executives at practically no costs to them. The Nigerian Senators are the highest paid in the world. Thanks to Professor Itse Sagay and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. How that is sustainable remains to be seen. 

In the world of classical economist, David Ricardo (1772-1823), the worker is paid only what he needs to sustain him to work the following day. Nothing is left to meet personal responsibilities and leisure. The concern of the employer is work and more work. To strike a balance between what the worker offered and what employer paid, trade unionism arose to strengthen the bargaining power of the rank and file. It was reckoned, and still is, that the weak and the vulnerable would thereby be protected. Fairness would be extracted from an unfeeling employer from whose veins the milk of human kindness may have dried up. However, from experiences of the aftermath of every struggle, there are casualties through clever depletion engineering in human capital; the gains turn out to be illusions. The worker comes out worse. And he is made to again go in search of elusive victories by declaring yet another round of strike. Sometimes, the job disappears from his hand because to pay the new wage level and continue in business, the employer prunes down the workforce and raises the price of his product which ironically the worker himself needs. What then is to be done in view of the fact that the inner worth of an average employer changes at no faster a rate than changes in the earth crust? The employer is not going to yield without pressure. Yet the worker is in need of protection for fair wages. In the free world, strike is a weapon workers guard jealously, so is the principle of collective bargaining. 

As there is no standstill in life because it is being driven by motion, every action will necessarily call for a deep reflection on the experiences of each day. Are there no other ways, for example, to strike a balance in the relationship between the employer and the worker? How are things to continue in these times, in the new Age which has opened before us, which anyone who is attentive can perceive? Is a practice necessarily right because it has gone on for decades or centuries? The two tiers of government facing the heat from Labour and the organized private sector, excluding small-scale enterprises say they can pay only N62, 000 as the National Minimum Wage. That is what they say they are comfortable with, a little movement up, and away from the previously announced N60, 000. The position of some of the governors, especially those less endowed is that for them to go beyond this mark they would have to spend all their revenue in paying only salaries and other areas of service delivery would suffer. Labour is assuming that all the states regardless of their current resources, both from the Federal allocation and the internally-generated revenue (IGR), are in a position to pay. After all, the current N30, 000 minimum applies throughout the country. Besides, all governors and commissioners are paid the same wages themselves. Workers also pay the same price for premium motor spirit (PMS) even though energy cost is cushioned through equalization Fund which makes it possible for a motorist in Akwa Ibom or Bayelsa to buy fuel at the same price as the motorist in Zamfara or Yobe State. All these negate the principle of federalism, thus strengthening the agitation for restructuring from which Labour has been aloof. The phrase Collective bargaining itself connotes centralization! But never mind!

In the developed world, especially in Western Europe, unionism is real and has become an acceptable power, confirming and safeguarding the right of any worker to withdraw his service if he considers a working condition unfavourable. Because of its universality, the conception and underlying assumptions of collective bargaining are no longer subjected to scrutiny. Because it has been accepted as a veritable power in the Western World, developing countries have enthusiastically embraced it. One of the weaknesses of collective bargaining is that negotiations are not freely done but under duress which exerts pressure of fear of strikes which in turn comes with inhibiting factors. Most times labour cost is not matched with the same level of performance with resultant rise in productivity. Yet, the answer to inflation is abundance of goods which is derived from increased production either by machine or human labour. As a Uganda proverb says, “To defeat hunger you have to farm, not beg.”

Strike has far reaching consequences, well-intentioned as it may be. Consider for example, in the strike of last week, the national grid was shut down and those manning it were driven out of situation room to make the strike bite hard. When the nation is plunged into darkness, everybody is touched. This was without consideration for those on life support in hospitals, those on dialysis, operation tables in theatres. Fortunately, doctors did not participate in the strike. If they had joined, there would have been premature discharge of patients with grave consequences of deaths, prolonged agonies, hopes postponed or shattered. Strikes damage and worsen national economic situation. The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) secretary, Mr. Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said this much while appealing to Labour to shelve last week’s strike. He said: “it could reverse the recent marginal gains in the economy. It could incapacitate the private sector and would impoverish Nigerians …It is our strong view that any amount beyond what the OPSN offered could further escalate the already worsened health of many businesses, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises, and drive others to the precipice.”

Who can easily forget the sparks of strikes in Britain in the 70s, in the era of Scarghill? In 1978, British unions drove away affable Prime Minister James Callaghan, lovingly called Sunny Jim, from office after he plunged the country into what the British Press called a winter of discontent! He handled trade disputes with kid-gloves. Margret Thatcher, the no-nonsense Iron Lady, not wanting to go the way of Mr. Callaghan, was determined to tame the unions. She faced Mr. Scarghill, the union strongman, head-on. The encounter lasted one year. About the same time, The Times of London, fondly called the Thunderer that prides herself the Voice of Britain,  was shut down for nearly one year.  The highly revered Old Lady was closed by printers protesting the introduction of new technology in the press, between 01 December, 1978 and 12 November 1979. The printers calmed down only after the owner, Lord Thompson of Fleet, threatened to close the institution down permanently or sell it. The former option did not go down well with the British general public, particularly the Establishment because the newspaper speaks for Britain. After a while upon resumption of operations, the newspaper was eventually sold to Mr. Rupert Murduch, and many of the printers lost their jobs. Thompson was later to announce that he lost $30million from the lockdown.    

Strikes can keep investors away and deny the worker more jobs and better offers, delimit the production of more goods and offer respite from rising prices. Union leaders, however, do not see issues of strikes this way. Yet, trade unionism and the concommittant collective bargaining, attractive as they may appear as a weapon to safeguard the interest of employees, indeed give false hopes and worsen their plight. In the private sector, workers are misled into believing that all profit is loot. With collective bargaining individuals are robbed of their own ability to press for their needs and entitlements. Collectivism ignores the point that there can be no equalization in the affairs of men for as long as they have free will and exercise it as each person pleases. In some cases employers sometimes unconsciously sense the necessity for individual bargaining strength and therefore at the point of entry, emoluments are negotiated with each employee.

Collective bargaining also sets out from the assumption that there is injustice that must be redressed, and in the process bring about a relative uniform level of living standards. This ignores the fact that men cannot have equal opportunities, but rather only equal offer of opportunities. This is simply on account of free will, the exercise of which determines each person’s fate and his placement in life, now or in the future, when the fruits of his activities freely embarked upon ripen for harvesting. Collective bargaining also ignores the fact that workers cannot produce the same amount of work. If there is inequality in productivity, it should follow that there will be inequality in reward. Even where there is relative equal amount of productivity, how much joy each puts into bringing it about counts before the Laws of Life. Work carried out grudgingly counts for far less, if at all, before the Law. There will be greater incentive for the one who works harder and joyfully. In other words, it is important to note that what Labour is pressing for is minimum wage, it is not asking for minimum productivity. That is beyond its control. 

In the present action we have on our hands in the country, it is not only the government that is being pressurized to raise the minimum wage, it extends to the private sector as well which has been battered since the currency change fiasco and the precipitous withdrawal of fuel subsidy, desirable as the action was. And it is to the sector the Central government is likely to turn through increase in company tax and the state governments for worker’s payee and sundry levies. Apart from fuelling inflation, agitation for pay rise on a collective basis also discountenances the risks entrepreneurship entails and when the investor /employer loses, his loss is not shared by his employees. It is little realised that an employer deserves praise for providing opportunities for workers to unfold their talents and abilities and to meet their material needs so they can be free for the pursuit of higher values—the real purport of life. It is hardly appreciated that the industrialist has to make provision for equipment and assets replacement and for his own family and needs and that when profit is made it is only a fraction of it that goes to the investor. The remainder is ploughed back into the business for expansion or recycled into the economy either through direct investment or through banks where it is available to go out as loans to revitalize the economy still. 

I have gone this far to show that on both sides there is need for recognition of the consequences of imbalance in our lives, worker or the employer and that we cannot be too careful. After all said and done, it will be discovered that the pursuit of unions and how they go about it, as well as the attitude of the employer must be subjected to immutable principles of life that only what is right serves aright. And this can only be decided by how they align with the principles and mechanisms that govern life. Workers need not worry: an employer, whether in the public service or the private sector, who maltreats his employees mercifully put under his care, sets his own snares and his dominion, in accordance with the Laws of Creation, cannot endure—in the present or in another earth life. The dominion must in the end collapse even where it shows all the promises of flourish at the peak of business. Similarly, a worker who receives pay for work not done will have brought imbalance about in his own life. He may inexplicably be exited, or the imbalance results in poor pay that fall below inflation. The employer may also look frantically for new technology to reduce the establishment in human labour in particular.

In most parts of the developed world, pay rise is worked into the calculation of the possible rate of inflation. In this way, whatever increment a worker may receive will not be waylaid by the departmental or grocery stores. There is no noise-making. Similarly, some organizations do yearly but quiet productivity assessment of their staff. In some there are aptitude tests. Greater attention should be paid to farming. The incalculable value chains in agriculture are what can revitalize any economy and engender abundance of primary products and processed goods rolling out of factories. It is the two-pronged approach that can successfully tame inflation. But the policies of many a government encourage what erstwhile Governor Lateef Jakande (LKJ) once described as army of consultants and renter economy who produce nothing, but rake in billions of Naira and Dollars—what he said was a wide deviation from the all-embracing vision of Chief Obafemi Awolowo!  

Creation is one whole and as I have stated repeatedly in these pages, it is governed by immutable and incorruptible Higher Order. There are several planes of existence apart from our earth. We should learn from activities going on there so that the entire Creation can swing in harmonious whole. Our earth is the last outpost of Creation which the Lord Christ called His Father’s House, and the planes, Mansions. Although there are regions below the earth, they were never intended by the Creator nor did He bring them into existence. They are nether regions, more commonly known as the Dark Region with its characteristic hellish conditions, hence it is called Hell. The nether regions were created and are being expanded by human beings through unworthy activities, thoughts and speeches. Above from the summit of the material world, planes beyond the perceptive capacity of our senses, beautiful Regions of Light exist stretching into Paradise. Paradise is protected by what is called the Animistic Belt—the home and origin of animistic beings  such as elves, gnomes and nixies that the ancient people called gods and goddesses, the awareness of their existence closed to the modern man; only children still behold them. The Animistic Belt is also the home and origin of the souls of animals we are familiar with on earth.

In higher realms, all swing in love and harmony—everyone serving his fellowmen, his neighbour jubilantly, seeing only to what is of benefit to him and which gives him joy. Our world is supposed to be a replica of such beautiful worlds and that is our principal task as human beings on earth, that is to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. And so do we long and pray,”Let Thine Kingdom Come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Disruptions to national life, to corporate lives must necessarily be deviations from the pursuit of that loftier goal and from the fulfillment of the vow we human beings make that we will establish the Kingdom of the Creator on earth. Disruptions bring harm to our fellowmen. We thereby prove that we are untrue and unfaithful to our vows; we deceive not our Creator, but ourselves. It is as serious as that.

How would it be if the Nature Beings whose activities through the mixing of molecules of hydrogen and oxygen and infusing them with their own radiations to produce clouds and water were to go on strike? Will there be rains? How would it be if Nature Beings that prepare the air we breathe and make it pure all-year round were to go on strike? How would it be if rains were withheld and there are no crops on the field and plants that provide herbs to heal our ailing bodies? How would it be if Nature Beings which prepare bodies for babies in expectant mothers’ wombs were to go on strike? How would it be if Nature Beings were to refuse to build mountains, and provide and nurture flowers to behold, flowers that blow our minds and bow our spirits with their beauty and fragrances, the enthralling wondrous fields of Nature? What would it be if the Creator were to withdraw His Grace and Blessings which keep us alive and from which we draw our sustenance and prosperity? Every year the Holy Spirit, the Creative Spirit of God, renews His Love for the entire Creation when He pours out Power, energizing the entire Creation. Grasses sprout, plants come out with blossoming fresh leaves and flowers bloom. Birds sing merrily. Plants bow. Men receive strength. 

We should be well-advised to familiarize ourselves with the immutable and unchanging principles of life so that we do not come to harm. Old knowledge can no longer suffice for the world of today. This day and age requires knowledge that is new, that is revealed. With it we will see many notions, many time-honoured conceptions for ages regarded as right and unassailable crumbling before our eyes. They are after all wrong and mortally harmful.

Before we could say Jack Robinson; before we could catch our breath, the ever refreshing and glorious month that is May has come and is closing its cycle today. It is a month of storms, a month of lightning and thunder. It is a month of restoration. When lightning and thunder strike, we dash under the table, under the bed, shaken to our marrows for whatever can give us that momentary cover. Yet, there must be lightning and thunder to moderate temperate and tropical atmospheric temperature imbalance. May comes with a weather that is a mixture of rain and sunshine, a signal to the raining days ahead. In these times, the failings of EKDC and its siblings scattered at Ikeja, Ibadan, Benin, Enugu, Kaduna, Jos—I am sure in combustible Kano, as well—do not get as much trumpeted on rooftops as they are accustomed to receiving in January and February when the day and night can be refreshingly cool. This reminds me by way of digression, as my boss, Allah-De, was wont to say, when the weather begins to wink at you, a sign that rain is on the way, get your candle ready. These days, get your inverter ready! But pray that the inverter supplier/engineers do not become the new NEPA, NEPA of blessed memory, unfeeling and uncaring. Who can fight Nature, despite your thunder arrestor and a booster one mounted by the supplier; thunder can still damage your inverter as it has done to mine! What is Nature? I am entreating Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev who dismantled the Soviet Union to be on standby.

There is so much to say and write about the month of May. As Numerologists are wont to say, those who preoccupy themselves with science of numbers, Figure 5 represents Love. It is powered by the force that is Love. May being the fifth month of the year therefore swings in the Law of Numbers as the month of love. Sandwiched between April, the fourth month which swings in Nature featuring awakening and sprouting and June the month of power, the love of May is particularly significant and it is not to be interpreted in the narrow sense. For love is not indulgence. It is severity. The releasing power of love gives to everyone that which is of benefit to him. Thus, it is said true love gives benefit, not comfort. Ultimately in benefit lies comfort. The tongue of fire in a furnace, for example, is beautiful and attractive. A child finding it irresistible only needs to touch once in his life to learn the right lesson! In experiencing, therefore, lies knowledge, and knowledge rightly applied leads to maturity and development. Instantly, the hearty, unburdened laughter of the child turns to a loud outcry!

In May, regeneration in Nature, a gift of love, drives everything relentlessly towards its climax, particularly towards the end of the month. In this driving or forcing towards blossom, everything is animated and it regenerates the good and the bad, to bring to their authors, in justice, the bountiful harvest of their labour. This May ending today, what can we say has been amiss? Practically everything, some would say. If anything, the standard of living has taken more heartless bashings and dipped beyond last year’s levels. The beating of chest since Buhari’s era on the catalogue of magic achievements on occasions of anniversaries has continued. I did state in this column that I was going to give Bola Tinubu one year of honey moon to find his feet. That honey moon was over two days ago. I will henceforth mount my observatory pole. In the area of security, it is the same old story! But thank goodness, life goes on. Perhaps in hope which Bola Tinubu has made his sing song. Hope of a better tomorrow, however, only if we ourselves change for the better. For only a completely different people who can produce a completely different leader, thus a completely different nation since the people can only give what they have. In a democratic setting such as the world clamours for and embraces, leaders rise through the ranks of the populace to brandish before their gaze their own mirror which the leaders constitute. Who has heard of cocoa being harvested where a seed of oranges was planted? Who has not heard of the law of sowing and reaping? This column has stated repeatedly that our world is governed. We supply the threads for the weaving of our carpet of fate.

The season of mango is moving away. In the goodness of the Almighty, maize is returning to town. A reflective person may not easily discountenance the fact that one mango seed holds the promise of hundreds of thousands of mango fruits. Anyone may venture to count the number of ears of corn on a cob of maize. Upon reflecting that there may sometimes be as many as five cobs on a stalk and as many as four hundred ears of corn to a cob, we see that the lesson rings home powerfully that there may be as many as 2,000ears of corn generated from an only one. Then the picture is of the Law is clear: Whatever a man soweth that shall he reap in multiples and many times over.

Back to the subject of May and Nature reminds me of those memorable thoughts of Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet agent of change and liberation of its various peoples who constituted the country from an unnatural union. Mr. Gorbachev said in 1994: “As an ongoing re-evaluation of values is basic to the evolution of civilization. In its early history, mankind treated Nature with reverence. People were afraid of Nature, regarding it as something superior and unfathomable; they worshipped Nature as a kind of deity. Harming Nature was considered a deadly sin. Later, as man accumulated knowledge and practical skills, he began to see himself as superior to Nature, setting himself the goal of conquering it and subordinating it to his own interests. Soon it became apparent that the arrogance of technical knowledge scars Nature with wounds that will not heal.”

Mr. Gorbachev went on to blame the problem in the relationship between man and nature on “a crisis of spirit.” He urged the world to recognize the urgent need to reconsider the old views and attitudes towards nature and reach a new level in learning the laws that govern the system that incorporates man and nature.”

What then is Nature? This brings us back to the fundamental issue Mr. Gorbachev raised in his profound perception. What is Mother Nature? Like many human words which have lost their original meaning in human perception long ago, the concept of Nature remains nothing but a vague expression for many people today. Many long to be close to Nature. They throng the sea shore for its refreshing spectacle, the rippling of waters, the undertows, the sheer breath-taking expanse of the ocean that bows the spirit; tides rising and falling. Some wander in the woods for oozing of insects, the ruffling of leaves. Some head for the mountains for their rarifying effects on the spirit and others behold the undulating hills. Many long to be close to Nature when they are tormented by the plastic city life and flee to the beautiful greens of the invigorating countryside, even if only for a short while. These days it also has suddenly become wise to be natural for the sake of good health. Medicine is advancing quite all right. But has it not created two problems where it solves one? Natural spring water is thus the vogue. And there is a return in droves to herbal remedies once discarded as having no place in modern medicine. Talk of beautiful nature fills the air. We speak of natural beauty and everyone is enraptured by beauty that is natural, which has moved away from artificiality that is not animated, that is dead. Yet simultaneously, man has not evinced signs of being tired to tinker with the conquest of Nature. Are we not in the time of Mr. AI, the rapidly growing Artificial Intelligence? Two weeks ago, one product of Artificial Intelligence was posted to me. It was a lady you cannot believe is not real! I am told before long An Artificial Intelligence pilot will be flying our planes. It is been sold to us as for more competent and precision-driven than man! After all, what are drones?

Any talk of nature today is likely to evoke no more than images of coarse forms, that is, outward appearances. Pictures of landscapes automatically arise as do those of all that are perceivable by the physical senses. At best, this picture conceives of the earth or the galaxy or the entire subsequent Creation as belonging to Nature. In a sense this would not be an altogether false or incomplete picture if these manifestations often called seen as no more than mere visible effects of the intricate natural activities behind which stand some beings. Yes, some beings! But not perchance human beings. To be certain , Nature is the undistorted material effects of the activities of these Nature Beings. Matter has no life of its own. It assumes a living form when it has been glowed through. These forms, glowing, warm and active are then able to unite to produce power and even stronger forms. When the animating glow withdraws, matter collapses or dies and returns to its primeval state. The glow is a healthy union of radiations and distinguishes what belongs to Nature.

Engrained in the works of Nature also is the capacity for self-strengthening and propagation. In the end we will all become aware that all of life is radiations and that the visible life is nothing other than the coarse replicas of fine animating core. We can now connect the dots about what tells a woman from a man as being bundles of different radiations. Thus, we are told in the enlightenment graciously mediated to all mankind in these times that a woman is defined by the nature of her activities.

Thus, the tones in the radiations of the month of May, most importantly of the special power from On High, drive the month in all its encompassing invigorating love. So is it that we stand encompassed in the unrelenting driving power of May. In the grip of its radiance, of that unfathomable Love which only Jesus Christ, the Love of God can mediate, swinging in Figure 5, and the Holy Spirit in Figure 7 which is also perfection, in unswerving Justice, lays upon no one nothing more than he has taken upon himself–both Arms in everlasting Holy Trinity with the Father, the Father in Them and They in the Father. When we look at the world, every country and possibly as many men and women, the signs of the nature of the harvest of the future of our world is self-evident, even today. In May, specifically, 30 May, out of love, the Almighty Creator renews His Creation with the outpouring of Power from On High, from the Highest Temple standing at the peak of Paradise, into our universe. It is the Day the Holy Dove appears over a vessel, called Chalice. It is from this vessel that all the worlds below receive power from the Almighty Creator for their continued existence, flowering and fruiting. We must bow our spirits in worshipful thankfulness and adoration for His ever-present Grace.

It’s been 31 years since a seismic event triggered by the June 12, 1993 election nearly brought Nigeria to its knees. The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), M.K.O Abiola, was on the cusp of a resounding victory when the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida interrupted and later annulled the election.

That action sparked nationwide protests that ultimately consumed Babangida’s government and his successor, General Sani Abacha. It set the stage for a transition that, over Abiola’s dead body, produced Nigeria’s luckiest former military leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, as civilian president in 1999.

Every May – and later June – since then, Nigeria has marked its successful transition to democratic rule, the most extended 25 years of unbroken civilian administration in its 64-year history.

How far?

But the lingering question remains: how democratic have we truly become? If the martyrs of June 12 could witness the nation’s current state, would they have made the same sacrifices? Is this the Nigeria that the survivors, still bearing the scars of the struggle, fought for? Would some of the beneficiaries, now in their 30s, sometimes question the validity of the struggle? Do they even care or remember? These are complex questions with no easy answers.

This week, I read two significant articles that left no doubt that Nigeria is in a tough place. The point of the articles is that democracy is more than campaign promises, more than periodic elections, and much more than the absence of military rule. It’s a system that is currently under severe strain in our country.

The first, by the New York Times, was entitled, “Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation.” Citing the widespread hardship, the newspaper said, “Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago, Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, is projected to drop to fourth place this year.”

A country adept at coping with misery, the paper said, appears to have reached its wits end.

The second article was by Jonathan Power, one of Europe’s most knowledgeable writers on foreign affairs and a friend of Obasanjo.

In his article this week, “Democracy on the Run?”, Power cited Freedom House and several other reports that indicated a qualitative and quantitative decline of democracy in several countries, including Nigeria, because of “a lack of vigorous policy implementation and good public administration.”

We know what we know

We don’t need foreign newspapers to tell us. The daily lives of most Nigerians today, whether at home, school, work or in the market, tell the story unedited. And folks are beginning to ask, first in whispers and now in louder, angrier tones, what is the point of democracy that does not put food on the table?

China is not a democracy, but it runs a system that has lifted millions out of poverty and has created the largest middle class in the world. Its science, technology and infrastructure investment makes the United States look like a third-world country. Nor was Singapore a Western-type democracy when it leapt from third to first world under Lee Kuan Yew. And Libya’s best years yet were under Moammar Ghaddafi.

Impatience with democracy has also led to a rash of military coups in several African countries – actually seven in three years in West and Central Africa – led by soldiers who seem to be succeeding in dragging the continent back to the era of military demagogues.

They use the same messianic rhetoric, but only this time, they are succeeding far more easily because, as we say, reason flees the head when hunger enters the stomach. Flawed elections are making matters worse.

Matter of framing

But are we framing the question correctly? Is autocratic rule in whatever guise – including the Rwandan variant that extends one-person rule in the middle of the game – superior to democracy simply because of stability and an appearance of material prosperity?

And, in any case, is the problem with democracy, or is it a matter of performance? In other words, isn’t it the quality of governance that makes democracy meaningful?

For all its progress, and it’s a lot, I would still not trade democracy for autocracy – whether it’s of the variety of its poster boy, China; its latter-day nationalistic face, Russia; or its pseudo-domesticated cousin, Rwanda.

Nigeria is far from the promise of 1993 or 1999, but it has produced some of the world’s most insulted presidents who, by and large, we can still call goats and get away scot-free. That’s not a trophy. It’s not a substitute for bread and butter, either. But you never know the value of free speech, association or movement until these rights have been abridged or taken away.

World not smiling

The point is weariness – not necessarily with democracy, but with performance – is not only a Nigerian thing. A Pew Research Center study in December 2022, which covered 19 countries from Sweden and Singapore to Canada and from the UK and South Korea to the US, France and Spain, showed mixed outcomes in satisfaction with democracy and political efficacy.

While only 20 percent were not satisfied in Sweden, and 43 were not in Canada, for example, the figure in the UK was 46 percent, 56 percent in France, 62 percent in the US, and 68 percent in Spain. The 19-country median was 48 percent – a weak pass.

Citizens were generally dissatisfied by polarisation, exclusion, inequality, corruption and lack of trust.

Nigerians are unhappy, not with democracy, but with the failure of performance. For example, an Afrobarometer survey of 2022 showed that while 70 percent of Nigerians prefer democracy, 77 percent of the population are unhappy with the quality of governance. If that same survey were conducted today, the figures would be starker.

But that is understandable. Two significant decisions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government – the partial removal of petrol subsidies and the floating exchange rate – have had the unforeseen effect of significantly worsening hardship. On top of that, when the government calls on citizens to tighten their belts, some public officials appear to be living it up with large convoys, personal aides and extravagant foreign trips.

It’s precisely this feeling among citizens of baboon “working” and monkey “chopping” that has given democracy a bad name.

Tinubu’s luck

Tinubu made his own luck by asking for the job of president at what would always be one the worst times in Nigeria’s history in a generation. Of course, there are broader issues like weak institutions, ineffective governors, election fraud, and a deep feeling among voters that elections are useless to remove bad leaders, not to mention limited faith in the judiciary. These issues require the collective effort of citizens, leaders, and institutions to solve them. But in the end, one man leads.

What Tinubu makes of it – not only through his speeches but, more importantly, through his performance – in the next one or two years will determine what is left of the heavily eroded confidence in democracy. He can’t afford to fail.

Benue State governor Hyacinth Alia has said, for record purposes, his administration has yet to borrow a dime since he became governor on May 29, 2023.

The governor said he would only do so when it becomes extremely necessary, adding that “for now, prudence in governance must know us and call us by name.”

Governor Alia disclosed this during the celebration of Democracy Day at IBB Square, Makurdi. He said he is committed to building formidable systems and institutions premised on fairness, accountability, democratic ethos, equity, and justice systems that are bigger and stronger than individuals.

He said, “Throughout this period, I have earned nothing close to love from those whose selfish interests I step upon to bring you comfort, happiness, and succour. But too high, I place your interest above theirs. Hence, I have no regrets for what I have lost in the course of this journey.

“As a government of popular consent, I am mindful of the honour and trust bestowed on me. For this, I have pushed sleep and comfort to the backseat to ensure that I live up to the expectations and terms of our social contract.”

Giving an account of his stewardship last year, the governor said, “It is no longer news that improved staff welfare, prompt payment of salaries and pensions/gratuities, as well as arrears, is now a mainstay under my watch. And so shall it continue to be.”

“Benue under my watch, has also weeded out thousands of ghost workers, ghost schools, and ghost agencies from our payroll. We have cut off all leakages and conduits of inefficient money-consuming channels obtainable in the past,” he added.

He said as proof of their zeal towards rewriting the narrative of the education sector in Benue, they allocated 15 percent of the 2024 budget to education, surpassing even the percent at the federal level, adding that they have also trained over 150 headteachers and distributed over 100,000 instructional materials across public schools in the state to enhance teaching and learning.

“For instance, as part of palliatives for the removal of fuel subsidy, our administration decided to pay for the 2023/2024 examination fees of all students in government-approved public secondary schools in the state sitting for the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) examinations, respectively.

“At the Benue State University, we have expanded academic programmes, established new faculties, restored scholarships for medical students, and paid outstanding salary arrears. We have upgraded the ICT facilities, preparing over 10,000 youths for the global market. The idea is to train over 60,000 youths,” he said.

The governor restated his commitment to rewriting the state’s socio-economic narrative and asked for continued support for his administration, which he hopes will put Benue on the global map.

 [Leadership]

Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged Nigerian doctors to remain in the country and work with the current administration to improve the nation’s situation, rather than emigrating for better opportunities abroad.

Speaking during a visit on Wednesday by the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), led by its president, Prof. Bala Audu, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Shettima appealed to the doctors to resist the allure of overseas opportunities amid the ‘Japa’ syndrome.

He assured the doctors that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to their welfare and has deep empathy for those who choose to stay and serve their country.

Shettima praised the significant contributions and sacrifices of Nigerian doctors in advancing healthcare delivery.

He said, “Let us stay back and salvage this nation together. This is our country, the greatest black nation on earth, and a promising nation that we need to invest in.”

He also encouraged the NMA to motivate young doctors to specialise in key medical disciplines and to combat the activities of unqualified practitioners.

[DailyTrust]

The director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, has said the Supreme Court determined the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

Amadi blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for failing to prosecute the 2023 presidential election.

Amadi said the National Assembly should probe INEC’s expenditures during the 2023 general election.

He also charged INEC to explain why its server failed during the 2023 presidential election.

The public affairs analyst also noted that the electoral umpire should be able to explain to Nigerians why its results were not collated and declared electronically as provided in the INEC electoral Act as amended.

He spoke at an event organised by the Labour Party to mark this year’s Democracy Day and was contained in a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh.

According to Amadi: “Nigerians and indeed the National Assembly should be courageous enough to probe INEC expenditure during the 2023 general elections.

“The failure of the INEC server during the presidential election with all the money given to them. It is appalling that no one spoke about the huge amount of money given Mahmood Yakubu and all the INEC commissioners to prosecute a failed election, failed because the Supreme Court has to step in to determine the result of elections.”

He noted that the ongoing electoral reform must reject the inconsistency of allowing the presidency to appoint the INEC chairman.

Amadi stressed that this gives room for election rigging before the votes are cast.

[DailyPost]

Each time a country goes through minimum wage negotiation, you can take it for granted that the argument to put politicians on that same salary scale will come up. It is a common argument, one that the Victorian Socialists Party in Australia included in their campaign promises. Granted, they were an upcoming party—the equivalent of the many political parties in Nigeria that exist through their press releases until elections are around the corner—and were unlikely to win anyway. Still, asking politicians to feel what they dish out is a universally resonant sentiment. In 1816, when the United States Congressmen voted to increase their salaries to $1500 a year (from the cumulative $900), a significant number of them were promptly voted out! Such reactions show how much people have always resented their delegates living above the majority of the people they are supposed to represent.

In Nigeria, we have repeatedly heard versions of the argument as the Nigeria Labour Congress slugs it out with the Federal Government on calibrating the pay scale. The NLC started out with N615,000, a rather outrageous sum even for a negotiation starting point. They revised their offer to 495,000 and are now down to N250,000. The Federal Government, meanwhile, is offering them N62,000. In bargaining, the union leaders justify their figures by comparing the sum with politicians’ income. To enhance the moral legitimacy of their stance, the breakdown of lawmakers’ income has been circulated in the media along with the payslip of a prominent media aide. If they could earn that much, the workers too should be able to up their demands. While we know it is highly improbable that our politicians would ever legalise such a proposal, it is a discussion still worth having. The Nigerian political class earns a high income. If placed on a minimum wage, will it make a difference?

Arguments in favour of the proposal assert that politicians are public representatives and their realities should not be distant from the society they purportedly administer. Besides, politics is not a profession one should embark on for the salaries but for the prospect of making a social impact. This line of argument is not entirely without provenance. Until the 20th century, lawmakers in Britain (the country that colonised/modernised half of the world) were unpaid. In those times, it was not a full-time job but a partial vocation for propertied men who could afford to take some time off to deliberate for society.

Several analysts suggest a correlation between the income we pay politicians and the quality of governance. They argue that better salaries induce better people into politics, which is good for the system. The standard reference point for those who take this position is Singapore. Their lawmakers are officially the highest paid in the world earning about $900,000 per year (for comparison, US congressmen earn about $178,000). Singaporean ministers earn around $1.1m, while their president earns about $1.7m (the US president earns $400,000). Other countries, especially in the Middle East (like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait) and Europe (Monaco, Norway, and Sweden), also have leaders earning humongous salaries. What do these countries have in common? Good governance, high quality of life, minimal corruption, and leaders who demonstrate public accountability.

Now, as even an elementary analyst knows, correlation is not causation. The fact that higher salaries have something to do with better governance elsewhere does not necessarily make it the defining reason those countries enjoy good leadership. Nigeria is a fantastic example of higher salaries not making any difference in leadership quality. In fact, all the arguments advanced for paying politicians higher salaries fall apart in Nigeria. They say politics is an elite enterprise and if you want to draw the best minds in your society, you must pay them well above—or at least the equivalent of—what they would have earned if they worked for wealthy private corporations. People who get into power should enjoy a high quality of life to free them from pursuing other enterprises that will expectedly bring them money. That idea does not quite hold up here because the meritocracy that selects people in those societies is still largely alien to us. People frequently get into power in spite of—not because of—merit.

That explains why, except for a handful, Nigerian politics is mostly populated by a category that does not even represent the quality of minds that freely litter its landscape. Looking at those who represent us in power, you would never quite know that Nigerians are brilliant people who excel in parts of the world where they are allowed to thrive. Our politics is skewed in such a way that the worst of us mostly tends to represent the best of us. Ironically, some analysts use African countries such as Nigeria as an exemplar of the low-quality governance you get when you underpay your public administrators.

Nigerian lawmakers earn as much as their US counterparts, but they do not compare favourably. Listen to our lawmakers debate an issue, and you will understand that they themselves are a problem that higher salaries simply cannot fix. For instance, the quality of their “debate” over the re-introduced national anthem was beneath the level of what you will get at a newspaper stand where the Free Readers Association members converge to argue everything from world politics to sports. The discussants did not come across as if they did any homework on the subject; their contributions were mostly extempore and hardly insightful. I have witnessed agboolé meetings where the old men who mediate conflicts demonstrate far better rhetorical and oratorical skills. So where exactly is the elitism that is supposed to distinguish them from the rest of us and justify their pay?

They also confound the idea that if politicians earned enough, they would look away from bribes. Nigeria serially defies abstract postulations in this respect. Someone like Orji Uzor Kalu was not a pauper before he got into politics, yet he once went to jail on allegations of corruption. His story is not even unique. Governors steal and steal while they are in office, and when they are leaving, they will still get the lawmakers to sign them unconscionably fat pensions. Then they will go to the Senate where they will continue to steal. Nothing is ever enough for them, no matter how much they manage to amass.

To be fair to them, the nature of public office in Nigeria induces stealing, especially if you already lack a strong moral core. The average politician is always hustled by the mass of beggars who throng their abode in search of kobo tokens of survival. Such demands on public leaders push them to steal to augment their earnings. Still, that does not change the argument that in our society, our politicians are the same breed of hustlers whether rich or poor. There are hardly any distinctions between them when it comes to corruption. Paying people who have no such self-awareness higher salaries will not raise their standards. It will only widen their already wide mouths.

If more money has not allowed them to create the space necessary to develop themselves intellectually and ideologically, paying them less (by putting them on a minimum wage) will not make much difference either. No reasonable person thinks there is any path to that proposal ever getting actualised, but we bring it up because it is a good argument that at least reminds our out-of-touch politicians to stay level-headed. In the ongoing context of wage negotiation in Nigeria, it is funny seeing people pointlessly arguing against the idea. There is no path to ever paying politicians minimum wage, but bringing it up is also not an entirely futile exercise. Leaders who determine our lives need such occasional reminders to be—hopefully—empathic.

The Federal Government on Wednesday admonished organised Labour to consider the broader economic implications of its push for an unrealistic higher national minimum wage.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who handed down the admonition, hinted that the N250,000 minimum wage demanded by labour could undermine the economy, lead to mass retrenchment of workers and jeopardise the welfare of Nigerians.

However, the labour unions refuted President Bola Tinubu’s claims during his Democracy Day broadcast on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached on the new national minimum wage.

Acting President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, said as of the time negotiations ended on June 7,  no agreement had been reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage.

Adeyanju is acting on behalf of the NLC president, Joe Ajaero,  who is attending an International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Tinubu drew the ire of the unions after stating that his administration would soon submit an executive bill to the National Assembly to codify the agreements reached in the minimum wage negotiations between Labour, the private sector, the states and the Federal Government.

The parties had engaged in prolonged talks for weeks with the unions insisting on N250,000 minimum wage while the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector offered N62,000.

However, the state governors said they would not be able to sustain any minimum wage higher than N60,000.

Dismissing the offers made by the Federal Government and the OPS, the labour unions said they would not negotiate what they described as ‘starvation wage.’

N62,000 not acceptable

The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, said Labour would not accept the latest offer of N62,000 and the N100,000 proposal made by some individuals and economists.

This was as the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the unionists were waiting on the President to consider Labour’s proposal.

But speaking at the opening of the 2024 Synod of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday, the information minister emphasised the imperative of a realistic wage system that safeguards against mass retrenchment while addressing workers’ needs.

Idris restated the government’s dedication to reassessing the minimum wage but cautioned against demands that could disrupt the economy.

 He stated, “As I have repeatedly said, the Federal Government is not opposed to the increase of wages for Nigerian workers but we keep on advocating for a realistic and sustainable wage system for the workers – a wage system that will not undermine the economy, lead to mass retrenchment of workers and jeopardise the welfare of about 200 million Nigerians.

“We want the labour unions to understand that the relief that Nigerians are expecting, and that they fully deserve, will not come only in the form of an increase in wages.”

 He highlighted the ongoing efforts to alleviate the cost of living, citing initiatives like the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas programme aimed at reducing transportation expenses by 50 per cent.

 While advocating wage increases, Idris stressed the importance of holistic relief measures beyond salary adjustments, urging Labour to recognise the significance of programmes like the CNG initiative in enhancing citizens’ purchasing power.

 “It will also come as an effort to reduce the cost of living and to ensure that more money stays in the pockets of Nigerians. And this is where programmes like the Presidential CNG initiative come in.

“By replacing or complementing petrol usage with CNG, that programme alone will cut transportation costs by as much as 50 per cent,” he claimed.

 The minister called on religious leaders to assist in raising public awareness about government initiatives and efforts.

Religious leaders

He stressed the crucial role of the clergy in disseminating information about available opportunities and the government’s ongoing efforts.

 “As a government, we need your support, advice, and feedback,” Idris stated.

“Very importantly, we need you to be aware of the efforts being made and the challenges being faced so that you can help us communicate these to your congregations and the general public,” he added.

The minister highlighted the influential platforms of religious leaders, noting their potential to enlighten Nigerians on their rights, responsibilities, and the economic opportunities provided by the policies under the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The agenda, he noted, aimed to promote economic rebirth, strengthen national security, boost agriculture and food security, and transform infrastructure and transportation.

“Information and awareness are critical, and this is where our religious leaders come in. You have very influential platforms that can enlighten Nigerians on their rights, responsibilities, and the abundance of economic opportunities being thrown up by the policies and programmes being implemented under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu,” he explained.

 In his remarks, the National President of the Charismatic Bishop Conference, Archbishop Leonard Kawas, reaffirmed the organisation’s unwavering support for Tinubu’s administration, emphasising their commitment to collaborative efforts to realise the nation’s collective aspirations.

‘No agreement yet’

In their reaction to the President’s national broadcast, Adeyanju disagreed with Tinubu’s statement that his administration negotiated in good faith and with open arms with Organised Labour on the new national minimum wage.

Tinubu during his broadcast stated, “In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised Labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.

“In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.

 “No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.

“Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy. These themes shall continue to animate my policies and interaction with the constituent parts of our political economy.”

But Adeyanju in a statement dismissed the President’s assertion, insisting that he might have been misled by his advisers, noting that two figures- N250,000 from Organised Labour and N62,000 from the government and the OPS- were arrived at and ought to have been submitted to Tinubu.

According to the NLC official, anything to the contrary is not only doctored but won’t be accepted by Labour.

The congress maintained its stance on the N250,000 minimum wage, rejecting the government’s offer of N62,000 as grossly inadequate.

The statement read in part, “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the Federal Government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components.

“Our demand still remains N250,000 only and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.

 “We are therefore surprised at the submission of Mr President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC.

“There was none and it is important that we let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage.”

Adeyanju alleged that the labour leaders were intimidated by security agencies during the minimum wage talks.

“Fully armed soldiers surrounded us while we were in a negotiation with the government and despite denials; recent statements by senior officials of the government reaffirmed our fears contrary to the assurances by the government.

“However, we remain assured that the President’s democratic credentials will come to the fore in favour of Nigerian workers and masses,’’ he expressed optimism.

According to the union, the Democracy Day celebration was an opportunity for the President to demonstrate his love for Nigerian workers and the masses by shunning the advice that may be coming from ‘’those whose intentions were continuously focused on hurting Nigeria’s poor and struggling workers.’’

He appealed,  “Mr President should not allow these individuals and groups to sabotage his promise of lifting Nigerian workers out of poverty.

“The President’s advisers obviously did not tell him the truth that the leaders of the trade unions were intimidated and harassed. It is therefore important that Mr President understands that we were threatened severally by his operatives perhaps without his consent.

“Series of media propaganda calculated to intimidate and harass us were, and, are still being waged against the trade unions by senior officials of this government."

The NLC noted that there was no agreement as regards the duration of the Minimum Wage Act.

“It is also important that Mr President should know that most of his officers are working round-the-clock to set up the leadership of congress and the trade unions.

“We never agreed on a five-year duration of the Minimum Wage Act, though we acknowledge that the President mentioned five years or less.

“We also agreed that inflation should be pegged at a level for a certain amount to be agreed as minimum wage. This is to bring clarity to what the report should contain.

“Once again, we reiterate that it will be extremely difficult for Nigerian workers to accept any national minimum wage figure that approximates a starvation wage. We cannot be working and yet remain in abject poverty.

“We seek justice, equity, and fairness for all Nigerians, and this we hope would also drive the actions of Mr President who promised a Living Wage to Nigerian workers. This is an opportunity to show that he listens to Nigerians as he promised,” the labour movement said.

OPS speaks

Also commenting on the presidential broadcast, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, stated that no consensus had been reached on the national minimum wage.

The NACCIMA President, Dele Oye, who is part of the 37-member tripartite committee, said the panel was still in the middle of negotiation, faulting the contradictory statements being made on the talks.

“No agreement has been reached with Labour; however, it is wrong to make a press statement in the middle of negotiations apart from appealing to all parties involved to work harder to resolve outstanding issues, as the impasse is already creating uncertainty in the ability of businesses to make decisions,” he admonished.

In January, the government inaugurated the tripartite committee on the national minimum wage.

The committee was tasked with the responsibility of recommending a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

Over the past few months, the federal and state governments, organised labour, and representatives of the private sector have been deliberating on a new minimum wage for workers.

However, the demand by organised labour regarding the minimum wage has yet to be met.

On June 3, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike to protest against the government’s inability to meet their minimum wage demand.

Twenty-four hours later, the labour unions “relaxed” the strike by one week.

[Punch]

THE Organised Labour has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s claims that an agreement had been reached on new national minimum wages in his nationwide broadcast to mark Democracy Day.

According to labour, as at the time negotiations ended on June 7, there was no agreement reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage.

Rather, two figures such as N250, 000 from labour and N62,000 from government and Organised Private Sector, OPS, were arrived at and ought to have been submitted to the President.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has urged labour, to be realistic in their demand for a new minimum wage for workers, saying that the relief Nigerians were expecting would not come only in the form of an increase in wages but from other packages lined up by the government.

In a statement by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, acting President, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, labour noted that anything to the contrary was not only doctored but won’t be accepted by labour.

Reacting to the President’s speech, Adeyanju, said: “The NLC attentively listened to the Democracy Day presidential address delivered by Senator Bola Tinubu, especially concerning the ongoing National Minimum Wage negotiations. While the President may have accurately recounted parts of our democratic journey’s history, it is evident that he has been misinformed regarding the outcome of the wage negotiation process.

“We appreciate the President’s commitment to those fine democratic ideals, which allowed the work of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Negotiation Committee to proceed unhindered despite some hiccups. However, we had expected Mr President to have used this understanding as one of those who were in the vanguard of the struggle with us around the nation to rescue Nigeria from the hands of the military to harmonise the two figures submitted to him by the Tripartite Committee in favour of workers and masses. It would have been a fitting Democracy Day gift.

“The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the Federal Government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components. Our demand remains N250,000 and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position, which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.

“We are, therefore, surprised at the submission of Mr. President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC. There was none and we must let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage. We have also not seen a copy of the document submitted to him and will not accept any doctored document.

“However, we want to reaffirm our belief that the President on whose table the Tripartite Committee’s report presently resides would prepare an Executive Bill, which content will reflect the true demand of Nigerian workers. We think that this is an opportunity for him to demonstrate his love for Nigerian workers and the masses by shunning the pieces of advice that may be coming from those whose intentions are continuously focused on hurting the poor and struggling workers of Nigeria. Mr President should not allow these individuals and groups to sabotage his promise of lifting Nigerian workers out of poverty.

“President’s advisers did not tell him the truth that the leaders of the trade unions were intimidated and harassed. It is, therefore, important that Mr President understands that we were threatened severally by his operatives perhaps without his consent.

“Series of media propaganda calculated to intimidate and harass us were, and, are still being waged against the trade unions by senior officials of this government. Fully armed soldiers surrounded us while we were in a negotiation with the government and despite denials, recent statements by senior officials of the government reaffirmed our fears contrary to the assurances by the government. “However, we remain assured that the President’s democratic credentials will come to the fore in favour of Nigerian workers and masses.

“It is also important that Mr. President should know that most of his officers are working round the clock to set up the leadership of Congress and the trade unions. We never agreed on a 5-year duration of the minimum wage Act though we acknowledge that the President mentioned 5 years or less.

“We also agreed that inflation should be pegged at a level for a certain amount to be agreed as minimum wage. This is to bring clarity to what the report should contain.”

FG to labour: Relief will not come only from an increase in wages

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who spoke at the opening of the 2024 Synod of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria held in Abuja, said: “On the matter of the new minimum wage, which the FG is very committed to reviewing, realistically and sustainably.

“As I have repeatedly said, FG is not opposed to the increase of wages for Nigerian workers but we keep on advocating a realistic and sustainable wage system for the workers a wage system that
will not undermine the economy, lead to mass retrenchment of workers and jeopardize the welfare of about 200 million Nigerians.

“We want labour to understand that the relief that Nigerians are expecting, and that they fully deserve, will not come only in the form of an increase in wages.

“It will also come as efforts to reduce the cost of living and to ensure that more money stays in the pockets of Nigerians. And this is where programmes like the Presidential CNG initiative come in,” adding that the CNG programme alone, by replacing or complementing petrol usage with CNG, will cut transportation costs by as much as 50 per cent.

 [Vanguard]