Minimum Wage
Our last meeting regarding the minimum wage was conclusive. We called it conclusive because the tripartite committee had done it’s work. During that session, we came out to address the press and our position was clear that we had two figures, which is N62,000 as proposed by the government and the organized private sector, while Labour proposed the sum of N250,000.
So, the conclusion on that day was that these two positions should be forwarded to Mr. President. Our expectation, as at now is that Mr. President should do further consultation with the organised labour, the state governors, the organised private sectors, so that we can come up with what will satisfy all parties.
We recognise the fact that in negotiations like this, we cannot stand on one point and say it is here or nothing. There must always be areas for give and take.
So, we are emphasising because we read a statement from the Governors forum that they cannot even pay the sum of N 60,000 as minimum wage. However, we believe that they can do much more if they get their priorities right.
We want the president to reach out to all stakeholders so that we can reach a compromise and develop a minimum wage that Nigerians can live on.
We initially started this negotiation with the proposal of a living wage which is why we started with the sum of N615,000. However, we have left that concept and moved considerably to what we are demanding now. So we expect that the President, which is the father of the nation, should come up with something that can truly be the national minimum wage and that should be done after consultation with all stakeholders. And we are prepared for that before he transmits to the National Assembly.
Expected minimum
We cannot sit here and tell you what we think the final decision would be. However, our responsibility as a pressure group is to push to get the best for our members within the circumstance that we find ourselves.
What will Labour do if the president comes up with something that does not meet expectations
Let us not preempt
Again, you remember the minimum wage in 2019 where two proposals were made -24,000 and 30,000. At the end, National Assembly picked the best. So we are hopeful.
Meanwhile, we would not leave any stone unturned both at the Presidency and at the National Assembly. Let us assume today that the President proposes 200,000 to the National Assembly. It is our duty as a pressure group to go to the National Assembly during the public hearing meetings with the leadership and tell them that this amount will not be enough, that you have to take it to the 250,000 that we demand. We would continuously pressure them from all angles.
Regarding the struggles that were made in the fight for democracy, I support the motion by the president of the NLC that most of these struggles were played by trade unions.
Just as he said, Kokori played the role he played during the struggles because he was the General Secretary of NUPENG and not as an individual. The same goes for Milton Dabibi who was the general secretary of PENGASSAN.
And remember, within that in history, in 1994, PENGASSAN, NUPENG and NLC were proscribed by the then Military Junta led by Sani Abacha. That shows that outside the individuals, trade unions played very strong roles to see to the actualisation of democracy and would continuously play those roles to ensure that democracy must strive.
Democracy is a means to an end and not the end itself. What is the end? Prosperity for Nigerians, better life for Nigerians. The masses must be able to afford 3 square meals a day. There must be housing for all, there must be social infrastructure. That is the end. And we would ensure that we continuously push so that those real dividends of democracy would be felt by the entire Nigerians.
Oil production dwindling
What is happening as of today is regarding the issue of crude oil theft. The challenges we’re having in the sector is not because we do not have the manpower to produce 2 million barrels per day. It is not because we do not have the technology or the sophistication to get it done. It is because when you pump into some pipelines, you realised they are punctured in over 200 points in a space of about 200 kilometres.
That is the real challenge. What causes these variations on a monthly basis is that the IOCs and nation oil companies would stop production and start repairing some of these facilities. And then the next month you realise that production has gone up again because these facilities have been repaired. However in no time, production goes down again because these oil criminals have vandalised those pipelines again.
We have had series of rallies to draw the attention of government. We believe that a more holistic effort should be put in place because the challenges are still there, the criminals are still there, those people that attacked the pipelines on a regular basis are still at work.
They keep moving from one pipeline to another. That is a real challenge, why you have these fluctuations.
We have the capacity to take it to 2 million barrels per day. Once we can fix the issue of oil theft, then we will achieve this.
In terms of Port-Harcourt and Warri refinery, the report we work with is the one we receive from the PENGASSAN local chapter and not what government is saying.
As of the last interaction we had with him, the Chairman of the Port-Harcourt refinery told us that they have started doing some tests with hydro carbon. And when a refinery starts doing tests with hydro carbon, then it means they are close to producing.
The reports we got last revealed that they discovered some leaks during the hydrocarbon testing phase and that those leaks are currently being fixed. When they are done, they would introduce another hydrocarbon testing phase to see if the repairs were successful.
If it is, they will test the entire line and be ready to commence production.
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