Mixed reactions as Obaseki announces N70,000 new minimum wage

BENIN CITY—IT was a new vista of hope for civil servants in Edo State as Governor Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, announced a new minimum wage of N70,000 for workers in the state from the current N40,000 with effect from May.

Obaseki disclosed at the commissioning of Edo State Labour House Complex, a new building to serve as the Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in the state, where he promised that if the Federal Government announces a new wage higher than N70,000, his administration would adjust to meet the benchmark.

The building located at Temboga, Ikpoba Hill in Benin City is named after a former Governor of the State and former NLC President, Adams Oshiomhole.

The governor said: “As a result of the cordial relationship between the Edo State Government and labour unions in the state, we have enjoyed peace and industrial harmony in Edo State. Despite our efforts to make life better for Edo State workers, there are forces beyond our control, as we don’t control the national economy and our workers are still languishing in pain and penury.

“I give you insurance, improved conditions of service, pay you and promote you on time but the truth is that because of the economic situation in Nigeria today, our workers continue to be challenged; by devaluation, high food prices and inflation have made nonsense of the N40, 000 we are paying you.

“As a government, we feel your pains and know your take-home pay can barely take you home. We will continue to try. I am one of those governors who believe that we can’t run away from the fact that we must adjust the minimum wage in Nigeria. It would have been nice for there to be a central and cohesive and common approach. We would have expected that by now, there should have been a direction as to what minimum wage will be for workers in Nigeria.”

He commended the cordial relationship his administration has enjoyed with the organised labour which he said has supported the institutional reforms his administration has embarked on since 2016.

Ajaero commends decision

Ajaero who delivered the inaugural lecture on ‘Leveraging the legacies of Pa Michael Imoudu as a way of fostering harmonious and productive industrial relations,” reacting to the new wage said: “The governor said he has had a good relationship with labour for the past seven and a half years, it is because he has not tired to divide them, he has not tried to organise fake veterans against labour, that is why he will get the best, so I want to thank him once again for showing goodwill, Edo State is a kind of pace setter state. When he said he wanted to contest for the governorship, I had my reservations because he is a capitalist till tomorrow and when you see a capitalist trying to use capitalism for the welfare of the masses, then there is human blood running through his vein.”

In a goodwill message by Aremu who represented the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha commended the edifice that had been built and urged the state government to sustain the existing cordial relationship and also commended the TUC and NLC in their engagement of the federal government in its ongoing reform.

“What we are witnessing in Edo is a practical demonstration of labour/government relations in terms of cooperation to work together and agree. This is the best secretariat across the country that has been put in place. You have continued the trajectory of your predecessor, it shows that there will be disagreements, there will be partisan inclinations but you have been very consistent in your labour programmes in line with your predecessor, who is my mentor, Adams Oshiomhole. He also increased the minimum wage beyond the national minimum wage. Edo is not just the heartbeat of the nation, it is the heartbeat of comradeship, I think the Federal Government should be able to learn from the relationship between labour and government in Edo State that we can do contestation but there should be cooperation for development.”

The State chairman of the NLC, Odion Olaye, on the new minimum wage, said: “It is a welcome development and I am very excited about it. I thank God all these things are happening in my time. In 2022, the governor increased the minimum wage to N40,000 and we speak now, Edo State is the only state receiving N70,000 in the country and today, the governor commissioned a gigantic edifice for the Organised Labour in the state. My prayer is that God almighty will keep the governor for us, give him good health and wisdom to do more for the people of Edo State before he leaves by November and I wish that the workers will reciprocate what the governor has done.”

Meanwhile, All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, through his Campaign Organisation, has described the N70,000 minimum wage for Edo workers as a vote-buying Greek gift ahead of the September 21, governorship election in the state.

“However, we must congratulate workers in Edo State for their resilience and for what the election has forced our governor to do. The fear of Edo workers in an electioneering season is the beginning of wisdom for Obaseki. The governor’s action can be termed as blackmail too cheap – without an election, Obaseki doesn’t need workers’ votes. So, we must now understand the rationale behind the minimum wage increase – vote-buying, however, guise it is dressed up.”

Also, the Labour Party, LP, chairman in the state, Kelly Ogbaloi has said that the new minimum wage of N70,000 announced by Obaseki is political.

Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, he said: “It is an award to the workers, it is okay but again isn’t it political? These workers have suffered tremendously in the past, this realisation of increasing salary is coming from where?

“Is that not just a joker so that workers can be cajoled or eroded into believing that the next government that is from him will be better? I think the award is more deceitful than reality.

“They could award that but the intent is my problem because workers have been on a particular wage for a very long time and the government has been severely insensitive to considering it and as soon as elections are eminently here, the election has become ominous, then the government is rushing to increase salaries to N70,000 from whatever rate it was before,” he added.

Governor Obaseki should be commended for increasing the pay package of the state workers amid the excruciating suffering and hardship across the country. He appears to have raised the bar in staff compensation in this hard time. The magnanimity of the Edo State governor should be emulated by other governors on issues of staff welfare.

However, it should be clearly stated that what the Edo State governor has done is not a minimum wage, but a wage award. While one is not bothered about the politics or otherwise behind the new pay package, what is becoming worrisome is that the culture of the collective bargaining process has been relegated in the state. The labour issue is on the exclusive legislative List and minimum wage is not only a product of the collective bargaining process, it is backed by law.

The N70,000 wage announced by Governor Obaseki was neither negotiated nor legislative. It was a product of the governor’s fiat. Minimum wage is statutory not based on the magnanimity of one individual. The implication is that the Edo State government can pay more if subjected to a collective bargaining process.