President Muhammad Buhari celebrates his last Workers’ Day in office today. However, the labour unions were displeased by the federal government and state governors’ governance. Their obstinate governance led to the impoverishment of workers and caused untold hardship to Nigerians.
They lamented the country’s ever-increasing inflation. The inflation, they say, has undermined the 40% wage hike. The hike took effect in January and was approved in April by the federal government.
Last week, the government paid various categories of federal workers a 40% raise in their salary. Unfortunately, union leaders said the pay rise was lost due to inflation.
The Consumer Price Index reported by the National Bureau of Statistics in March 2023 indicated that Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerated to a new 17-year high of 22.04%.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria has one of the highest inflation rates globally. Nigeria is also the seventh highest in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. When Buhari took over in 2015, petrol was sold at N87 per litre. It is presently dispensed for N196 despite the payment of subsidies by his regime.
Cooking gas prices also shot to N822.16/kg from N256/kg in eight years. Electricity tariffs were hiked to N68 per kilowatt per hour from N27.20/kWh despite power outages. Though the regime increased the minimum wage to N30,000 from N18,000, the workers submitted that food inflation which skyrocketed from 9.78% to 22.72 eroded the increase.
Ahead of the May Day commemoration, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress also flayed governors.
They categorically stated that they did not pay adequate attention to the welfare of workers in their states.
The National Treasurer of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Hakeem Ambali, submitted that the outgoing regime had inflicted heavy hardship and suffering on the Nigerian workers.
According to him, the workers have suffered job losses, insecurity, economic hardship and other calamities under Buhari.
Ambali, who is also the President of the National Union of Local Government Employees, stated that under Buhari’s administration just like every other administration, there has been the loss of so many jobs. Some governors laid off so many workers in the North, East and West. There has been a loss of lives as a result of banditry and kidnapping, especially in the South-East, South-West and in the whole North.
The labour leader further observed the lack of social safety net in the country even as he scored the Buhari regime low in terms of fidelity to labour laws, citing the abuse of labour laws and practices by the government.
He noted-
“Looking at COVID-19 that ravaged the country, the government failed to have a social security scheme that is backed up by social polity and social legislation to care for the retirees, aged and the vulnerable. For us in the labour movement, we have not fared well at all. There has been abuse of labour laws and practices. No thanks to the way some of the appointees handled labour matters.
“So many states failed to pay the minimum wage. Some did not pay the contributory pension to the PFAs and that has created a lot of hardships for retirees in Nigeria. Rest is no longer sweet because of the backlog of money that was owed, retirees.’’
cc: Punch Ng
