Festus Osifo: Some State Governors Are Not Properly Implementing Consequential Adjustments, Short-Changing Workers

The President of Nigeria’s Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, has revealed that some state governors are not properly implementing the consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage, which would result in some workers not getting the full increase in their wages.

The TUC President said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday Night, where he also revealed that the Labour Unions are not envisaging a nationwide strike, as many states have been compliant in implementing, or having discussions to implement the new minimum wage, with only about three states defaulting.

Explaining the issue faced with consequential adjustment, Osifo said, “When we did- from N30,000 minimum wage to N70,000, when you calculate it, you are going to realise that the percentage is about 133 per cent. So, what that means is that normally, that 133 per cent should be applied probably to people from grade level 2 to somewhere around grade level 7 or 8, you apply the 133 per cent.

“Then as you now progress, you can be reducing the percentage gradually. So, what that means is that a graduate, before now, who used to earn-let’s say N120,000 on grade level 8, maybe step 2, that person that was earning N120,000, if you apply the proper consequential adjustment, the earning of that person is going to be more than N200,000.

“But what some states are doing, instead of applying that percentage, what they do is that they add a fixed sum. So, what those states do, they will just come, they will tell you that they are going to add N20,000 across board, that is not how consequential adjustment is done. It is actually without percentage, you now spread it out.”

He then said, “We have empowered all our state councils and we have also explained to them how these consequential adjustments can be done so that our workers will not be shortchanged.”

Speaking on the challenges faced with the implementation of the new minimum wage by states, Osifo noted, “The greatest challenge that we have is actually the consequential adjustment, because a lot of these things, they are not doing the consequential adjustment properly. So, when we had the NEC meeting last week, we examined the issues state by state, and we realised that while a handful of states, they are already implementing, we have some states as well that conversations were currently going on.

“We have some states that they were just at the threshold- a state like Oyo, for example, they’ve constituted the committee, they have been meeting, and they are at the point of signing an agreement. So we have few states like that, that cohesion has gone on. But we still have some others- a state like Zamfara, a state Cross River, that they’ve not even commenced anything whatsoever. So, for such states, like last week for example, we had a warning strike in Cross River State for two days, you just heard that the strike was called off today.

“And so, for a state like Zamfara, we have also told our people to mobilise as well. So for those states that there is no conversation whatsoever, we’ve asked our people to mobilise and go on strike. But for the states that conversations are up to- between 80 and 90 per cent, we have asked them to quickly tidy up all loose ends so that they will start implementing the new minimum wage.”

Osifo was then asked if the Labour Unions could call for a nationwide strike to enforce the new minimum wage, to which he responded, “We don’t really envisage a nationwide strike as at today because it is not really proper for you to go on strike in a state that is implementing the minimum wage. So, our concentration today is on those states that are not implementing the minimum wage. For us, the ones that have not started at all are about two or three. For others, because in our NEC meeting, what came out of it clearly was that majority of these states that have not implemented, that discussions are currently in advanced state, in fact, it was scored above 8- per cent, that conversations are going on.”

Then, responding to a question of whether the minimum wage had not been implemented in some states due to the government’s inability to pay, Osifo replied, “No it is not true. It is actually because some of these governors or the state government, they don’t see workers’ welfare as priority. Because today, if you see what has happened, the proceeds of the devaluation of naira that has made much more naira available to the government that they share during FAAC allocations and all that, the money that has actually come into states has actually, in most cases, tripled. So, they can actually afford this, we know that very well.”

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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