Buhari
Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President
Muhammadu Buhari to “intensify his government crackdown on corrupt
money and recovery of other illicit wealth by public officials and
institutions to fund the proposed N65,000 national minimum wage by
the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), if he is to fulfil the needs of
ordinary Nigerians who continue to struggle to make ends meet, and
whom he has called his ‘constituency’.”
Following
the delay in negotiations for a new minimum wage, the NLC had last
week directed workers to proceed on a nationwide warning strike.
Buhari had in November 2017 inaugurated a tripartite committee to
negotiate a new national minimum wage for the country, assuring
workers that the committee, which began sitting in March 2018, would
conclude its work by the end of September. But the committee has yet
to finalise its work despite promise by the government.
Reacting,
SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Timothy Adewale
said, “The minimum wage of N18,000 for Nigerian workers stands in
sharp contrast with outrageous and sometimes illegal salaries and
allowances of high-ranking public officials who continue to enjoy
lavish lifestyles with impunity. Paid so little, already vulnerable
Nigerian workers are left in a precarious situation, unable to ensure
a decent standard of living for themselves and their families, with
access to water, health, and education seriously undermined.”
The
organization said, “Paying workers N18,000 minimum wage is
tantamount to labour exploitation and ‘normalization of poverty’,
and if urgent action is not taken to reverse it, will continue to
drive Nigeria’s poorest families deeper into poverty. Having an
exploited labour force will also exacerbate incidents of bribery and
petty corruption and undermine access of marginalized sector of the
population to essential public services such as water, health and
education.”
According
to the organization, “As the government marks Nigeria’s 58th
Independence Day, now is the time for it to choose between spending
billions of naira to fund the lavish lifestyles of billionaire
politicians or lifting millions of Nigerian workers out of poverty by
ensuring that the national minimum wage is set at a level sufficient
to provide all workers and their families with a decent standard of
living.”
The
statement read in part: “Successive governments have demonstrated
scant respect for the fundamental human right of Nigerian workers to
a just remuneration while at the same time increasing salaries and
allowances of high-ranking public officials including members of the
National Assembly, state governors and ministers. This not only
violates the country’s international human rights obligations but
undermines its international commitment to provide an adequate living
wage for ordinary workers that ensures an existence worthy of human
dignity.
“Buhari
only last week in the US described the ‘working poor’ and
ordinary Nigerians as his ‘constituency’. He now has to provide
bold leadership to improve conditions for this marginalized sector of
the population by publicly supporting a just remuneration for
Nigerian workers to allow them to lead a decent life. His government
can make this a reality by pushing to recover stolen assets and other
illicit wealth by public officials and institutions since the return
of democracy in 1999.
“The
minimum wage in Nigeria is insufficient to ensure a decent standard
of living for workers and their families. Aggressively pursuing
recovery of stolen public assets and other illicit wealth and ending
illegal salaries, allowances and double pay for public officials at
all levels and using recovered funds to implement an adequate living
wage would be entirely consistent with Nigeria’s obligations to
take steps progressively to use its maximum available resources to
ensure an adequate standard of living for marginalized Nigerians.
“To
improve the ability of the government to pay the NLC-proposed minimum
wage, the government can begin to take tangible steps like proposing
legislation to cut security votes of around N241 billion yearly;
directing the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC)
to take legal action to seek refund of the illegal N13.5 million
monthly ‘running cost’ for each senator and N10 million monthly
allowance for each member of the House of Representatives.
“The
RMAFC has already declared the allowances illegal and contrary to the
law on salaries and allowances of public office holders, namely
‘Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries
and Allowances, etc.) (Amendments) Act, 2008’.
“Buhari
can also push to stop former governors from receiving double pay and
life pensions as serving senators and ministers, while instructing
the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to use
the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) to seek refund of over
N40 billions of public funds received by ex-governors now serving in
appointive or elective positions as public officers.
“By
making a commitment to an adequate living wage for Nigerian workers,
Buhari would be working to meet the aspirations and needs of his
‘constituency’, providing them with a decent income to ensure
their rights to an adequate standard of living including the rights
to health, education and water. This would hugely contribute to
fostering an inclusive and sustainable development, while combating
the growing inequality across the country.
“SERAP
urges the government to move swiftly to end the strike by reaching an
agreement with the NLC on the proposed national minimum wage, and
pushing for the harmonization of this across many states of the
federation. The government should continue gradually to increase the
amount of the minimum wage, consistent with Nigeria’s international
human rights obligations and commitments.”
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