New Telegraph-Admin 
Comrade Joe Ajaero is the president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). In this interview, he speaks on labour’s demand for an new minimum wage; his recent fight with the National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure and reasons why Nigeria should adopt the parliamentary system of government, among other issues
What is the position of labour on the minimum wage?
The position of organised labour under the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) as stated at the Eagle Square during May Day celebrations is that if by end of May, negotiations are not concluded, we may not be able to guarantee industrial peace in the country.
The old minimum wage expired on April 18; that was before May Day. Ordinarily, a new regime of minimum wage ought to have started immediately after that. As we speak today, there is no minimum wage law in existence in the country. And we ought to have been through with the negotiation.
The last minimum wage lasted for five years. And for you to wait until after five years before you can do anything serious is a problem. In January, they inaugurated the Minimum Wage Committee. Though, that came late. Ordinarily, it should have been around October last year.
While there was delay, we didn’t understand. We started putting pressure. And you don’t need to put pressure for things that statutorily should be done. So, after much pressure, they inaugurated the committee. And Mr. President gave them the mandate to provide a living wage for Nigeria.
We met a couple of times, had public hearings across the six geopolitical zones, and came back to the meeting after collating all the data. And then the committee asked labour to send their own report and demands, which we collated from all 36 states. The NLC and TUC met and harmonised the demand of minimum wage to be N615,000; and forwarded to them.
Between that time and now, nothing was done. We couldn’t bear it any longer because in our last meeting, we agreed on how to ensure that we conclude even before May Day. So that Mr. President would take our demand to the National Assembly for a law to be enacted to seal the new minimum wage. That was the situation at that time.
Aside the N615,000 minimum wage, what else is labour demanding from government and is the government really in a position to pay N615,000?
Many may not understand the economic situation we are talking about. When the subsidy was removed, the government told us to go and negotiate a wage. Negotiating a wage is not something that is done immediately. We have now watched the impact of the removal of subsidy, and it has dawned on every one of us.
It wasn’t only the removal of the subsidy, they also went into price fixing, the price of fuel went up to over N700 per litre. With that, we can tell you clearly how much it costs a worker to go to work. We know how much a bag of rice is being sold? So, the cost of all this has dawned on us and we have prepared what it takes for a worker to go to work and survive with a family of four.
We also came up with this analysis and based it on some of the global experiences. The UN position is that nobody can survive on less than $2 per day. And if you take it from that angle for a family of six, giving them them two dollars per meal, in a day, you will have $12 and about $360 in a month. I will leave the calculation for us to do.
Let us come to the issue of the cost of-living index which we normally use. We gave the government a breakdown; for feeding, we gave everybody in that family N500 per meal. If you give everybody in a family of six N500 naira per meal, one person will get N1,500 per meal in a day.
And for the six people, they are going to have about N270,000 for feeding in a month. We looked at about N40,000 for accommodation, for education for 4 children, we put N50,000 assuming that your children should not go to private schools because you can’t do that with that amount of money.
For Medicare, assuming there is no surgery or serious medical issue, we put N50,000. For electricity, we put N20,000. That was even before this electricity tariff increase. And you discover that if today, you buy a token of N20,000, it no longer lasts as much as before.
For Gas/kerosene, considering that people refill every two weeks, at the cost of about N15,000 – N17,000 for 12.5kg cylinder, we estimated about N30,000 a month. All this is how we arrived at the sum of N615,000. Note that we did not add expenses like communication, tights/offerings in church or any other social obligation.
Now we brought it out for negotiation. However, in doing this, we said that if the government can check all these other issues like the inflationary rate and the value of our currency, then we can adjust our demands. The labour movement would not have asked for more than N200,000 before the removal of subsidy. Apart from transportation and house rent, you know the cost of living. A bag of rice now costs over N70,000, bread and other food items are very expensive too.
They told us that they are going to make more money with removal of subsidy and since they made more money, inflation seemed to be going up unchecked for almost a year. We can shift from where we are if those things could be taken care of. We did not even factor in the numerous taxes in our demand.
And we are coming from a country where there is no social safety net. No transportation or medicare. Even capitalist countries of the world make provision for all of these things. But here in Nigeria, you generate your own power with generating sets, provide your own water and almost everything.
Therefore, it saddens us when we are told on a daily basis that the N615,000 demand is not realistic or that it will cause inflation. Everything in Nigeria seems to have gone up except the wage which remains constant. We told the government that if we were to present that demand afresh, it will be higher and if things continue this way in few months’ time, N1 million may not be enough. The government should check inflation and other economic challenges that are causing the rise in the cost of
We do not have a succession plan, we do not do mentorship. So, anyone can come and take any position in government without vetting their background
living. For instance, what was done about tariff increase? Before increasing the tariff in the power sector, they looked at two major factors; inflation and the value of the currency before announcing the tariff adjustment.
Now, each time they do these things, it equally creates inflation which prompts them to go for another tariff increase but the worker continues to bear the brunt.
The Federal Government claims that life is getting better and that its reforms are yielding positive results. What is your take on that?
We all know that these claims are not true. The dollar was around N700 as of May 2023, when the present administration came on board, but currently, it is about N1,400, Is that getting better? We were buying fuel at around N185 when this present administration came on board, but currently, fuel is being sold for above N900 in areas where it is available.
I do not know whether that is the calculation of things getting better. A bag of rice was around N30,000 in May last year, today it is about N75,000. There is no commodity that has not risen more than 100 per cent within one year. I would not be the person to say that things are getting better; it is left for Nigerians to judge.
When we hit the streets to demonstrate how dire the situation is, we were called names. The main essence of governance is for public good, when you deviate and call people names, it becomes a different thing. The response from President Bola Tinubu then was that we should wait for them at the polls in 2027.
As a student union leader back then, we faced the Ibrahim Babangida regime. After so many days of action, he responded positively and said that he was going to create one million jobs. That was when he created new agencies, including the Federal Road Safety Corps to meet up with his promise of creating one million jobs to ease the suffering of the masses.
But the response in the case of President Tinubu was for us to wait for him at the polls in 2027. We didn’t want to join issues with that. Many Nigerians do not have what to eat for their next meal and they die as a result of that. As organized labour, we have to convey the message that people are suffering.
I do not agree with you as a Nigerian that anything has gotten better; employment is not there, companies are folding in the private sector, they cannot meet up with even the cost of energy, coupled with insecurity and all that. However, in all of this, what is being paid to those in the National Assembly has improved. People from that class are the ones claiming that life is getting better.
Is the NLC engaging state governors on the minimum wage?
Yes, we engage the state and federal together. The state governors fall under sub-nationals. Six governors represent the geopolitical zones at the negotiating meeting. However, what the Federal Government did was to select the governors that were either not paying or not paying enough to be on that committee.
The progressive governors in terms of payment of minimum wage are not in the committee and we have been asking why select those ones that are not paying the existing minimum wage religiously to be at the negotiation. However, they represent other governors and report to them from time to time.
Some of them have equally shown interest in paying. I was in Edo when the governor said that he is starting payment of N70,000 until negotiations are concluded. He also said that he will pay whatever is agreed at the national level. We did not see this as politics because when the minimum wage was N30,000, he was paying N40,000.
Such a person has the willingness to pay even higher than the agreed minimum wage. These are the kind of governors that understand the value of the productivity of workers.
Is the NLC in agreement with the Federal Government on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, considering the level of hardship and the perilous state of internal roads?
Every government has to look for a way of diversifying its economy, and if we are talking about the blue economy in the classical sense of it, we can even run the country based on what is obtained from the sea and the coastal states. Most countries are feeding by it.
If that is the angle that the Federal Government is exploring to reduce the over-dependence’s on oil and gas, then it is okay However, apart from the transportation aspect of the blue economy there are other areas. Even in energy, people are going green and there is emphasis on leaving oil and gas because of the climatic effect to explore generating power through hydro and other sources.
If all these are the intention of the Federal Government, so be it. But if there are other motives, because some are challenging the cost of the contract and the contractor assigned for it, then we have to take a second look at the project. A country like Nigeria would be stronger if it effectively explores its blue economy.
However, for the highway project, we need to follow it up and understand and assess the level of damage that it will cause on the people living along the coastal lines to mitigate the damage. I am among the people that support the diversification of the economy; it should not be oil alone, because it may soon dry.
But the people must be carried along in the process to know that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. However, apart from the transportation aspect of the blue economy there are other areas. Even in energy, people are going green and there is emphasis on leaving oil and gas because of the climatic effect to explore generating power through hydro and other sources.
If all these are the intention of the Federal Government, so be it. But if there are other motives, because some are challenging the cost of the contract and the contractor assigned for it, then we have to take a second look at the project. A country like Nigeria would be stronger if it effectively explores its blue economy.
However, for the highway project, we need to follow it up and understand and assess the level of damage that it will cause on the people living along the coastal lines to mitigate the damage.
I am among the people that support the diversification of the economy; it should not be oil alone, because it may soon dry. But the people must be carried along in the process to know that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.
Is the NLC reactive rather than being proactive? Why didn’t labour protest the subsidy removal?
We protested when they removed the subsidy. There were series of actions against their so-called injunction in court before we got some agreements. The first agreement we got was to deemphasize on Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS). That was when we got the agreement on CNG energy.
And when we came out with the proposal on CNG, and they asked us what the meaning of CNG was, nobody at the present time understood the meaning of CNG. Of course, of late, they are trying to mount it as part of their achievement. We explained to them that it is Compressed Natural Gas and that the gas deposit we have in the country today is enough to keep the country moving for the next 500 years.
And all you need is just a conversion kit, and the cost of CNG is far cheaper. When people are filling their tank now with N10,000, you don’t need up to 3,000 to fill your tank on CNG. You can still run your PMS and CNG depending on the one that is available. And this doesn’t take up to three months for you to bring in conversion kits and then bring in some buses that are CNG driven, to engage them in mass public transportation system.
We came up with all those proposals. It wasn’t from them. But one year after, they have not done it. We went further to get some people who can bring in this conversion kit. In fact, they told us that if we get, that they have gotten grant to give to workers, you know, at the cost of about N320,000 which will be paid over three years for the conversion kits.
We took this to the government, but they brought us their own proposal, which was about N800,000 for the conversion. That was when we saw that they have made the whole essence of the CNG to be for profit motive from the drivers of the state.
That was why we now said, ok, you drive it, but between that time and now, there’s no CNG busses running the streets of Lagos or Abuja or whatever; apart from Edo where over 5,000 vehicles that are running on CNG in Benin. So, it’s not only the issue of protesting, but we also make proposals on all the subject matters, we make proposals to them.
Whether they now take it or not is unwritten. We also met with INNOSON, and he started producing vehicles running on CNG, but the government is not engaging him. And he said he’s not going to give them any in advance and wait for them to pay him because he has learned from experience.
There are allegations that the NLC issue with the Labour Party (LP) was a personal battle. How would you respond to that?
If they have agreed that the NLC registered the Labour Party, then we can move from there, but the claim is that we never registered it in the first place. What you all witnessed in Labour Party was a clique of people that have converted our party to a money-making machine and as a mechanism for contestation only.
They are not building a party. Labour parties all over the world are owned by the trade unions, whether Labour Party of Britain or anywhere. That is not something we are now going to be debating. The first Labour Party that was established was started by Wallace Johnson, a Sierra Leonean journalist.
This was before Michael Imodu and others continued around 1963. And around 1987, Pascal Bafyau came with another Labour Party. I think in 1987; that came forth during the Babangida party registration.
In 2000, Adams Oshiomole started this move. Let me say that it was registered during his term, but at the NEC meeting, he wasn’t supporting an autonomous party. He was talking of belonging to the existing ones.
But we overruled him at the NEC meeting and agreed for us to have a party of our own. Then the argument was that the government, through the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would not agree to register a Labour Party because they’d see them as a viable opposition.
Therefore, we agreed to name it Party for Social Democracy (PSD) and registered it with that name, and had the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union, Sylvester EJiofor, as the first acting national chairman. At the first convention, we changed the party’s name to Labour Party. And nobody
What you all witnessed in Labour Party was a clique of people that have converted our party to a money-making machine and as a mechanism for contestation only. They are not building a party
including the last one, Julius Abure had been the chairman of that party, without being a trade unionist. Dan Nwanyanwu, the first national chairman, was the president of the Bank Union in Nigeria. The second one, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, was the General Secretary of the Local Government Workers Union in Nigeria, while Julius Abure, was State Secretary of the Post and Telecom Union in Edo State. It is an institutional party, owned by the trade unions.
On our own, we decided that we can’t duplicate it. The NLC president or its general secretary cannot be running the party. That was why we were drawing from the army of retired or former labour leaders to run it. For me as the president of the NLC, I am an automatic member of the NEC. If you check the last executive that we were talking about, there’s nobody there. The other person that is forming a faction, Lamidi Apapa was the NLC State Chairman in Oyo State.
He was a tanker driver, belonging to Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). Now, we are not saying that the party was formed by NLC and TUC. It was formed by NLC, but since it is labour, we run it together. And we didn’t say because it is Labour Party, it should be administered NLC executives.
None of us has gone there to drink pure water. We have not even asked them, how are you spending your money? Find out. The first time I was there as a person was when the issue of Apapa taking over the place came up. Remember that when the court restrained Abure, there was supposed to be a NEC meeting to decide who would be acting, but Apapa went there and broke the windows and entered. I fought against the party being taken over by one man.
I said, wait for a meeting where the decision will be taken for who will act in the place of chairman. So, we don’t interfere in that order. However, they were in court and for peace to reign, Abure begged Ayuba because there was a consent judgement in court during their tenure. These are things I met on ground before even becoming the president of the NLC. There was a consent judgement that we had to do an all-inclusive convention; ward, local government, state, and national.
He then pleaded that he wants to be there up to June 27, 2023,at least, till after the presidential election, said okay and signed an MoU of which he did with us. Well, that June, I was NLC president. I wrote a letter to him. I said, it’s June 27, your tenure has expired. He rushed to my office pleading that they needed more time.
Well, this time around, there was no ward congress, no local government congress, no state congress, we then heard one day that he has fixed a convention for Abia State of which was later moved to Anambra State. I don’t know the village they went to conduct it. At the time he said they held the convention, nobody saw the list of delegates or nomination letters indicating delegates vying for position within the party.
That was how he reelected himself in the so-called national convention and that about 15 offices are vacant, we should fill it. Is that how a party is organized? No media presence, no journalists. You can go and verify this information. However, as it affects my person, I expected all these things even before I became the NLC president. One of them said that I have been telling him that I want to run for president in 2027.
Between me and you and God, I have not seen this person in my entire life, but he said I have been confiding in him that I want to be president of Nigeria in 2027. The other person said that I want to be a Labour Party chairman; is that a demotion or a promotion? And the other set of people said that I told them I wanted to become governor of Imo State.
Tell me what I have not been accused of. But we will not lose focus. How can you ask people to pay N30 million or N10 million for nomination in Labour Party? Is that the basis for the creation of the party?
We said that these conventional parties are not doing well and that we wanted a party where the son of nobody can pick form and contest elections, yet you want to charge them N10 million, N20 million.
The idea behind the creation of this party has started manifesting by ‘Okada’ riders being in the National Assembly coming out victorious in the last election. It can only happen in the Labour Party.
Power is the major issue in Nigeria, what have your members working in the industry told you is the reason for not being able to generate efficient power?
The electricity sector would remain comatose. And this is me speaking from a knowledgeable standpoint as someone that majored in energy law.
You cannot command power; let there be power in Nigeria, and it will happen. There is no conscious master plan for Nigeria to generate let’s say 500 megawatts this year Every country of the world let’s say, twice a year has a plan where they generate a certain level of new energy.
If you are not building any power plant today, there’s none you would commission in the next 3 years which is about the gestation period for such project.
That is why we keep lamenting that power is bad, but no improvement. But if we can build one power station each year, some of them will give us 1,000 megawatts, 500 megawatts and so on, because demand is going higher on a daily basis. Even from our respective homes, the gadgets we use are increasing.
But here we are, relying on the existing 4000 megawatts which Obasanjo produced in 2002. Babangida did feasibility studies on Mambila Power Station, clean hydro energy that could have given us 3600 megawatts which they are not generating even per day even now. Between Babangida’s time till now, nothing has happened.
If you go to Borno and Yola State, the heat there is enough for us to go into solar. Nobody is doing it. From Kastina and other areas, you can put wind turbines because that’s where the world is going now. You know, real green energy, but Nigeria is not working towards it. We are relying on the 4000 megawatts that we have.
The previous ministers went into what I call political power stations. Why would Agagu build Papalanto, Omotosho, in Ogun State, when you need a gas pipeline from Bayelsa to Ogun. Whereas if you have them in the place where the source is, the person in Ogun, the person in Sokoto, they will get power at the same time. So, these are issues with our energy policy in this country.
