The minimum wage is supposed to be reviewed every five years by law, the last time it was reviewed and increased was in 2010.
I am all for increasing the minimum wage, it's long overdue.
President Muhammadu Buhari finally set up a committee a few weeks ago consisting of some Ministers, some State Governors of both parties and labor organizations. The committee has to come to a consensus on a new national minimum wage, I am shocked that our Local Governments don't have Representatives in this committee, shocked.
I am also not thrilled that this is being done a few months before the 2019 general elections, this minimum wage review is going to be politicized, there is no doubt about it. This review was supposed to have been done in 2015, its three years late.
The minimum wage is supposed to be reviewed every five years by law, the last time it was reviewed and increased was in 2010. Our Presidents have to always abide by the rule of law and constitution, refusal to abide by the law or constitution is an impeachable offense.
Proposal
Sometime last year, the National Assembly suggested N30,000 per month as the new minimum wage, I think it's a great place to start negotiations but as much as I want the minimum wage increased I am extremely worried.
Right now there are a lot of Local Government Councils and State Governments that can’t even afford the current minimum wage of N18,000, some still owe salaries and most collected bailouts and loans from the Federal Government to pay salaries. How are these Local Government Councils and State Governments going to be able to afford the new minimum wage when they can't even pay the current minimum wage of N18,000?
Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are demanding a new national minimum wage of N56,000 while the United Labor Congress of Nigeria (ULC) wants N90,000 as the new minimum wage.
This minimum wage review process is going to be an exercise in futility if we don't restructure our current system. We are operating an archaic and outdated model of generating and distributing revenue. I really don't understand why our Local Government Councils and State Governors are not lobbying the National Assembly and their State Houses of Assembly to revert land and mineral rights to the Local Governments.
I am all for autonomous Local Governments and mineral rights reverting to them except oil for now because it's the country’s main source of revenue.
Land and minerals rights
Land rights and minerals rights reverting to Local Governments gives every Local Government municipality the ability to grow their respective economy, create new jobs, increase their revenues exponentially and raise workers wages.
This will also enable each Local Government effectively carry out all of its functions as stated in schedule 4 of our Constitution I.E economic development, the provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational schools, the development of agriculture, the provision and maintenance of health services, the establishment and maintenance of markets, motor parks and public conveniences, the construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains, gardens and parks among others.
Our Local Governments should only pay royalties on revenue generated within their municipality to their respective States and the Federal Government. Land and mineral rights reverting to Local Governments will also not place such a preponderance of power and blame of underdevelopment, poor wages and poor standard of living on the Federal Government.
Local Government Councils and State Governments continue to fail when it comes to growing their respective economies, they fail to pay workers and pensioners, fail to create thousands of new jobs annually, fail to increase their internally generated revenue (IGR) exponentially, fail to increase workers wages and they continue to fail to improve the lives and living conditions of the people they serve because of the current system we operate.
If we increase the federal minimum wage but refuse to revert land and mineral rights to Local Governments to make them more viable, we are going to have bigger problems than we do right now. The Federal Government cannot increase the minimum wage when Local Government and State revenues have dwindled, are at a standstill or have not increased exponentially. Our Local Governments and States should be run like businesses.
I also believe individual State Houses of Assembly should be able to debate increasing the minimum wage in their States, they should be able to discuss every two to four years if they can afford to pay their workers more than the national minimum wage but this can only be possible if Local Governments and States start earning a lot more revenue. We must devolve powers to Local Governments, we have to make our Local Governments more viable, land and mineral rights reverting to Local Government municipalities should be the starting point.
Written by Nosa Eweka
Nosa Eweka is an Entrepreneur and a Member of the Benin Royal Family, he can be reached at nosaeweka@yahoo.com or via Twitter @nosaeweka.