LINUS CHIBUIKE
DIRECTOR-GENERAL of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Salihu Moh. Lukman, has advised the Nigeria Labour Congress to seek other ways of negotiations, saying that the usual resort to protests and strikes has become outdated.
He said Wednesday’s protest was needless because it would not stop the National Assembly from going ahead with the Bill to move minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List in the 1999 Constitution, in line with the recommendations of a report of the All Progressives Congress Committee on True Federalism.
Lukman, who spoke at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, however, stressed that he was speaking in personal capacity and not on behalf of APC Governors.
He urged Labour leaders to apply themselves to resolving the problems of Nigeria, saying the attitude of “we against them” would not work.
“There are fundamental problems bigger than we can imagine,” the DG said.
Members of the NLC and Organised Labour Unions had, earlier on Wednesday, stormed the National Assembly to actualise their earlier planned protest on the National Minimum Wage.
The union members trooped out in their hundreds, chanting solidarity songs as they gathered peacefully at the protest ground.
Vehicular movement around the National Assembly complex was hindered, owing to the movement of the large number of protesters.
Their banner had the inscription: “On minimum wage we stand”, “No to Mimimum Wage on Concurrent List”, and “Yes to Minimum Wage on Executive List”.
Reacting, the PGF DG said, “We are not saying they should not protest but this protest is needless. I can guarantee that it is not going to stop the process in the National Assembly. It is not also going to take away the issue.
“We need to work with them to develop this democracy and we can only do that if every constituent unit and citizens in those units can negotiate with the constituent governments and get results.
“As it is, we are all frustrated and that is what we should be addressing. This ‘we against them’ that labour is creating does not exist. We should be applying ourselves to resolving the problems of this democracy. There are fundamental problems bigger than we can imagine.”
He argued that a structure that imposes the same minimum wage on a state as buoyant as Lagos and states like Zamfara or Yobe, which are less buoyant, would adversely affect productivity.
He said even when all states agreed to pay the minimum wage, this would not solve the problems of the workforce.
“I want to be able to engage labour even though some of them continue to accuse me of being sponsored by a governor. But it is not just a governor. I have 20 governors sponsoring me. I am happy to have the knowledge that would attract all the consideration of being sponsored,” Lukman said.
“I believe the future of this country is about negotiating these issues. I have respect for the NLC and TUC leadership but my advice to them is that they have better capacity in getting things done. In fact, this country is where it is because they are not really applying themselves in the right direction,” he added.
According to him, the total number of NLC members is not more than 20,000 across Nigeria.
“I left NLC in 2006 and at that time, the total membership was about 4,000. But I am giving it to them because they have organised new sectors. There are new areas and so it is possible they have risen to 20,000. That is a very critical mass but they need to be guided and led properly,” he said.
Lukman noted, “It is not about dancing on the streets; they should develop their capacity. I am saying they have lied by saying that people proposing that minimum wage and labour issues should be moved to the Concurrent List, that they do not want the National Minimum Wage.
“I heard the NLC President, which is a disappointment, arguing that when it is not negotiated at the national level, it means it is not a ‘National’ Minimum Wage. I am saying you can still negotiate it at the national level but the methodology is important because you are looking for a benchmark which everybody should be able to pay.”
