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ONGOING MEDIA PROPAGANDA AGAINST LABOUR'S DEMAND FOR LIVING WAGE

As Organized Labour push further to secure living wage for Nigerian workers, I have observed the ongoing Media propaganda to frustrate the process by setting the public against Labour. This is not the first time such a thing is happening. Like the previous ones, this too would fail, I so predict. 

To suggest that Civil Servants in the country constitute only a fraction of the overall population in Nigeria and so, they should not demand for living wage is to be mischievous, to say the least. Question here is, do they deserve what they are asking for ?. Do they not make any impact ?. Do they not matter ?.

These Civil Servants we are talking about do the work of making the country work. They are technocrats and policy makers who make it their duty to drive the country to its target destination, making painful sacrifices in the process. For this, I insist, they truly deserve a living wage. 

By the way, they have dependents who are in their numbers. With our economic reality, their salaries cannot cater for their feeding and that of their dependents; wives, children, aged parents, siblings and other relations, not to imagine managing their health, taking care of their education, providing them with shelter among other pressing needs, the lack of which have grave consequences on security, health and much more. 

Beyond their dependants, these Civil Servants inject monies into the private sector, whether formal or informal. They patronize businesses selling food items and other items of need, including service providers. By implication, their monthly gains reverts back to Nigerian economy to keep it moving and growing. In most States, once salaries are delayed, their markets dry-up. Fact-check me, if you have any doubt, please. 

Moreover, ongoing demand for living wage by NLC and TUC is not only for the Civil Servants. Organized Private Sector is also involved. What then are we saying ?. Politicians who contribute far less ratio of the overall population receive way more benefits than the Nigerian Civil Servant who, after serving the country, may not have a house of his own, and may be left wandering about for years, demanding for pension and gratuity, as it is the case. 

Just imagine the cost of governance. The Media has reported outrageous amounts as salaries and allowances for members of the National Assembly. Same has been revealed about Governors and the Presidency spending on refreshments, travellings, taking care of animals in Government Houses and the Villa, powering generators etc.

At a time like this, and in our current situation, government should not contemplate increasing minimum wage, considering high cost of living. And Nigerians across divides should jettison this call, join forces with Labour to ask for living wage for Civil Servants. 

Governors who complain about unsustainability of the increase should cut cost of governance in their respective States, make sacrifices in that regard and think out of the box. They cannot continue to rely on Federal Allocation to pay salaries and execute projects. No way.

Yahaya Abdulrahman is a social critic, writes from Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria 

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