The fiery and sometimes controversial governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, fired a salvo at governors who hitherto have been unable to pay the minimum wage, describing the situation as extremely offensive and unacceptable. In this piece, ANDREW ESSIEN interrogates the subject matter while taking cognisance of the present economic challenges.For whatever it is worth, anytime the comrade governor, Adams Oshiomhole, as he is fondly called, speaks, he is sure to make headlines especially in the choice of topics he contributes to. In fact, he is a newsmans delight. This was the case when penultimate Wednesday, while delivering a keynote address at a town hall organised by the Kukah Centre, he criticised governors who fail to pay their workers, saying such act is criminal.The former labour leader turned politician further posited that failure to pay salaries violates the labour law, which stipulates when workers should be paid. He capped it up nicely by adding that it was immoral for governors and national assembly members who enjoy fixed benefits to complain of resources to pay the national minimum wage.One thing I cannot accept is that if you cannot have a decentralized system of compensation for executives, governors, commissioners and local government chairmen, how can these governors turn around and question the wisdom of a national wage structures for workers. It is that selective application of fiscal federalism that I found extremely offensive and unacceptable, he had said.The governor further argued that Even today I remain firm that we must maintain a national minimum wage and we must find ways to implement and adjust it to reflect the cost of living and it is the duty of government and employers to find the revenue to pay those they hired to work whether in private of government employed. Non-payment of wages is a criminal breach of contract whether in recession or prosperity.When the minimum wage was enacted, governors said it was not payable. But I said it was not meant to be convenient but that it was a law and that government and governors must be seen to obey the law.When the National assembly said they will decentralise the minimum wage, I insisted that it cannot be, he added.Governor Oshiomhole however lamented the backlog of unpaid local government workers salaries across the country, , but said state governors should not be held responsible for failure to pay primary school teachers.We do insist that if the Local government can do nothing else; they should at least pay primary school teachers. There are certain things that should be handled by the local government.As a governor I do not employ, pay or fire for the local government, so I cannot be responsible for that tier of government,Recall that as a build up to the commemoration of the recent Workers Day celebrations, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) had insisted that there was no going back on its demand of N56,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, arguing that the three tiers of government were capable of paying.The NLC Vice Chairman, Comrade Peters Adeyemi had argued that addressing income equality and ensuring a sustainable living minimum wage remained key to resolving the conflict of inequality and poverty among Nigerians.He justified labours call for N56,000 as the new minimum wage, stating that, some are asking if there is justification for wage increase in view of the current situation on ground; the answer is yes. The Naira itself has collapsed beyond the expectations of every Nigerian.As of this morning, its about N321 to the dollar, and they say its stable now. If you do the calculation, thats more than 100 percent fall. What that means is the N18,000 has gone down from the time it was negotiated. With good conscience, you cant insist that N18,000 should be the minimum wage.The unlawful increase of electricity tariff; If you look at every other thing, you find that there has been tremendous increase in services and commodities. So there is enough justification for minimum wage increment.The NLC VP had stressed that the prevailing economic hardship and the attendant suffering associated with it, compel the need for a new minimum wage, stating that when we renegotiated the minimum wage then, the exchange rate was N145 to a dollar.Adeyemi said: With this proposed new minimum wage, life will be better for our workers. At this point in time, we believe that the figure of N56,000 is realistic and it is supposed to be affordable by our employers.He maintained that the excuses given by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) that the present economic climate was not conducive for such demands fell short of the mismanagement and prolificacy going on across the state, adding: as we are talking now, there are governors that are still flying private jets.On their part, the Nigeria Governors Forum had expressed worries that more states may not be able to pay workers salaries if the revenue of the country continues to be on the decline.Presenting their case, Chairman of the forum and governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari stressed that The situation is no longer the same when we are used to pay N18, 000 minimum wage when oil was 126 dollars; now oil price is 41 dollars.We are coming together in a roundtable with President Muhammadu Buhari and his team of ministers, technocrats, economic experts to see how we can tackle our situation.This is even with reported cases of state governors who spend funds accruing to their states to support their lavish and bogus lifestyle.Analysts wonder therefore why the workers should be made to bear the brunt even as they work ever harder to put food on the table and lead a decent life style.They aver that even with the price of oil plumeting to an all time low, the elected officials are still living the lives that the common man will only dream of, hence, the only way to give back especially with the bogus promises that the made prior to being in office, is just to make sure that the Nigerian worker experiences a new lease of life.This, they say, will go a long way in curbing corruption that had permiated and stained the very fabric of the nations national life, a situation the current administration is battling hard to fight.At the moment, all the workers can do is hope upon hope.
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