Vanguard
31 March 2011
WHEN politicians are out for votes they can postpone problems, pretend to solve some and behave as if they no longer know what the issues are. The search for votes is too important to be left at the whims of labour, which threatened to disrupt the elections. It is time to play politics with the minimum wage.
The elections are too close for the President to displease any constituency, but his major headache was how to remain in good terms with state governors, who are opposed to the additional burden of the minimum wage.
A 2009 Federal Government tri-partite committee recommended the minimum wage of N18, 000 more than a year ago. A retired Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice S. M. A. Belgore headed the committee. Its membership was from representatives of federal and state governments, organised private sector, small and medium enterprises, and trade unions.
Nigerian workers when they got a minimum wage of N125 (about $250) 30 years ago under President Shehu Umaru Aliyu Shagari were better off than they would be with even N18,000 (about $116), no thanks to inflation and poor policies that have eroded the purchasing power of the Naira.
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