… Seeks panel on new national minimum wage
Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN) has charged the Federal Government to attach stringent conditions to future bailouts to states, to check misappropriation of the funds.
This was even as it called for urgent constitution of a panel to negotiate a new national minimum wage.
The national president of ASCSN, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, in his address at the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Enugu last week said some of the conditions to be attached to future bailouts should include payment of all salary arrears and pensions.
“Before the next set of bailout, we urge the Federal Government to enact rigorous clauses for benefiting states. Every bailout handed over to states without rigorous conditions is simply money flushed down into some corrupt pockets,” he said.
Kaigama lamented that all efforts by the union and the labour movement in general to remedy the dire condition of workers in terms of prompt payment of salaries and pensions have proved abortive despite the release of bailout funds and the Paris Club refunds to states by the federal government.
He said, “As we speak, many states are still owing their workers between five and 10 months’ salaries and pension arrears.
“Some of the worst hit states include Benue, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ondo, Oyo and Ekiti. Osun State workers, on their part, have been on half salaries since July 2015. As a trade union and a major stakeholder, the association decries this most unfortunate situation of non-utilisation of bailout funds released by the Federal Government to pay workers’ salaries by some states and thus calls for the immediate probe of states that are known to have diverted the funds while culprits should be made to face the full weight of the law.
“What the erring states have done is nothing but an act of terrorism against Nigerian workers. It is nothing but sheer wickedness for governors to be enjoying with members of their families, leaving innocent workers to go home hungry with empty stomach. Moreover, states ought to get their priorities right. They have to embark on governance models that can stand the test of time.”
Also on the plight of workers and the delay in the negotiation of the new minimum wage, Kaigama noted that the massive devaluation of the naira has made nonsense of the take-home pay of an average Nigerian worker, particularly civil servants.
“Monthly emoluments of workers can no longer take them to the bus stop, let alone taking them home. The current minimum wage of N18,000 came into force in March 2014, meaning that it is long overdue for re-negotiation.
“It is worthy of note that the palliative committee set up by the Federal Government to fashion out measures to cushion the effects of petroleum price increase on the people had since concluded its assignment and established the framework for the negotiation of a new national minimum wage”, he said.
He wondered why the Federal Government, instead of inaugurating the Minimum Wage Negotiation Committee, has been dilly-dallying on the matter.
“We, therefore, appeal to the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency inaugurate the panel to do the negotiation so that a new national minimum wage for the country can be arrived at in the next few months,” he said.
He stressed that the excruciating poverty in the land imposed by runaway inflation and lack of opportunities are now biting very hard, which he said now made lives of ordinary citizens continued to hang in the balance.