2024 Worker’s Day, Workers’ Hope on New Minimum Wage Shattered Amidst Hyperinflation and High Cost of Living
By Salako Kayode
If the Labour leaders had agreed with us earlier and stopped having an illusionary belief in the Tinubu-led FG, the 2024 Workers’ Day would have been the platform for the workers worldwide to embark on a nationwide protest to demand an end to tyranny, anti-workers policy, poverty wage, and the Tinubu misrule.
On May 1, 2024, Nigerian workers joined their counterparts in other parts of the world to celebrate the annual International Workers Day (IWD), also known as May Day. The theme of the 2024 May Day is “People First” and the event was held at the Eagle Square Abuja as well as in different venues across the 36 states in the country. In Abuja, the May Day rally started around 11 am with solidarity songs. Some of the key events in various parts of the country include rallies, march passes, and speeches. Some unions also used the opportunity to raise protest banners to further press home their demands. Early before, there was a pre-May Day lecture jointly organised by the two trade union centres, The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday, 29th of April.
May Day Celebration amidst Hardship
The 2024 May Day was celebrated amidst a whooping 33% inflation rate, 330% hike in electricity tariff, over 225% hike in tuition fees at tertiary institutions, 77% failure recorded among candidates seeking admissions, 250% hike in the price of PMS, naira depreciation and a host of others. Despite the removal of subsidies on PMS, queues have resurfaced nationwide due to fuel scarcity.
The national minimum wage expired on March 31 and a new wage was supposed to commence immediately on April 1. Many workers, including the labour leaders, who were hoping to hear the announcement of a new minimum wage on May 1 were gutted! The Tinubu government is quick to implement anti-workers policy but slow to implement the welfare packages for the workers. By May 29, the Tinubu government will be one year in office and the living standards of Nigerian people have gone from bad to worse.
To soothe the public anger on the eve of May Day, the Federal Government announced the approval of an increase of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent in the salaries of certain civil servants, according to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC). We of RSM can recall that the Buhariregime had previously approved this upward review before he left office. What the Tinubu government has done is only to extend it to other sections of the civil servants
Yet another Militarization
As expected, the Eagles’s Square, Abuja, was heavily militarized largely due to the fear of a possible protest of the workers at the venue and partly the presence of the Vice President, Shettima. There were hundreds of armed security men from the Police Force as well as paramilitary agencies.
Also, there was a stop-n-search activity at the entrance of the Eagle Square Abuja where workers witnessed strict screening checks of bags and luggage by the men of the State Security Services (SSS) at the entrance of the event. Members of the RSM and some of the workers resisted the harassment of workers and the barricading of the entrance of the event.
The Illusionary Promises
The event had in attendance the Vice President, KashimShettima and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Barr Nkeiruka C. Onyejeocha. As usual, their speeches contain plenty of illusionary promises and pledges. According to the Vice President, “The seeds of greatness planted in our nation are beginning to bear fruit, and they promise a future filled with hope and bound by prosperity. Let me assure you, with the utmost sincerity, that every initiative undertaken by this administration is geared towards transforming Nigeria into a nation that can truly provide for its people.”
On the minimum wage, Shettima said that “the Federal Government convened a 37-member Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage. The committee’s mandate was to provide counsel and suggest a national minimum wage that aligns with our current economic conditions. Since then, the committee, in collaboration with labour leaders, has been diligently working towards proposing a new National Minimum Wage. Unfortunately, despite concerted efforts, the committee was unable to reach a consensus at its last meeting. This shall be resolved soon and I assure you that your days of worrying are over.”
Similarly, the two labour centres (the NLC and TUC) put forward in their demands the need for expedited action on the new minimum wage and an end to casualization in all sectors.
The Labour Centres Responded
According to the TUC President, “the harassment and exploitation faced by workers in the informal economic sector is unacceptable and should be addressed by the government.” He went further to say that “the level of exploitation and outright extortion is deep and leaves the soul weeping”. “The toiling and exasperation and the violence meted out on them by operatives of the government is better left to the imagination.”
Furthermore, The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) made a joint declaration about the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Their statement partly read: “The UN mechanisms have unfortunately become undertakers and not life savers or peace-making. War does not benefit workers and the masses. It is mainly workers and the people that die in wars! These wars are therefore not for the protection of the people of the world and neither in our interests. It is purely driven by those who profit from wars – the bourgeoisie, either in the West or in the East. We call for global peace and cessation of hostilities so that the killing of men and women and the massive suffering will end.”
N615,000 Minimum Wage is Possible
Going by all of the metrics given earlier and the global trend, an N615,000 (or $410) minimum wage is very possible. Nigeria is blessed with vast resources that if well utilized, are enough to end poverty, pay a living wage and provide essential social amenities for the people. However, the ruling elites would rather siphon the public funds in the name of frivolities. We have seen how an Ex-Governor paid 15 years advance (2021 – 2035) of the school fees of his 5 children amounting to a total of $84,942.
We of RSM believe that the Tinubu government will try to make excuses on why they cannot pay this amount as the minimum wage in Nigeria. However, the workers must be prepared to fight for this to happen. Also, workers must demand, side-by-side a new minimum wage a stability in the economic condition of the country. The best way to approach this fight is by demanding that the minimum wage be promptly reviewed according to the rate of inflation.
The fight for a new minimum wage will not be an easy one. Apart from engaging the Federal Government, workers must be prepared to engage the state governments too to implement the new minimum that will be approved. As we have seen over the past 4 years, some state governors did not implement the current N35,000 minimum wage.
For a Political Alternative
Beyond the frequent struggles, workers must be prepared to wrestle power from the capitalist bourgeoisie and enthrone a socialist government. This would start with the establishment of a mass-based working people political alternative. By then, workers can start to tool their party to provide alternatives and claim power from the capitalist ruling elites who gather our collective wealth to satisfy their libido.
Five comrades of RSM were present at the rally with the new edition of the Socialist Voice (SV) paper. About a hundred copies of the paper were sold and one thousand leaflets of the Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN) were circulated. The event ended around 2:30 pm with the march pass.