By Alex Abutu
This week, workers around the world including those in Nigeria celebrated the International Workers` Day. As usual, it was an occasion for sober reflection on the plight of the Nigerian civil servants who had been at the receiving end of various administrations since independence.
It was a day that the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress reeled out their demands while reminding us of their suffering amidst policy summersault that had placed one category of workers on higher wages than others.
NLC used the opportunity of the day to re-echo some of their age-long demand for a better welfare package and more importantly, this year, NLC asked that the retirement age for civil servants be raised to 65 years and the length of service to 40 years.
As if he is in their minds, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice- President in a tweet celebrating with the workers urged the Federal Government to consider paying a living wage that would take a civil servant to work and back home.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President-elect in a solidarity message to Nigerian workers on International Workers’ Day, said “My plans for better welfare and working conditions are clearly spelt out in my Renewed Hope Agenda for A Better Nigeria. It is a covenant borne out of conviction and one I am prepared to keep.
“In Nigeria, I shall have the honour and privilege to lead from May 29, workers will have more than a minimum wage. You will have a living wage, to have a decent life and provide for your families.
“The days ahead will, however, demand better understanding and cooperation from all sides, because leadership will require that we take tough and hard decisions so that our people and all Nigerian workers can live more abundantly,” Tinubu said.
But from a wide range of discussions, the task before Tinubu is beyond mere workers welfare.
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Can Tinubu harmonize Nigerian workers salary across board so that it won’t be a situation that the high paying jobs are reserved exclusively for the sons and daughters of the mighty in the country?
Can Tinubu assure the Nigerian workers that during his reign, a clerk at the federal ministry of education will earn same wages as a clerk at CBN?
Will Tinubu be bold enough to confront the Super Governors who have useless the third tier of government? Today all local governments in the country have become cash cows for governors who collect the monthly allocation from the federation account and still refuse to pay the staff their earned wages.
A case in point is one of the states in North Central where the published allocation to a local government is over N300 million. The local government has a salary bill of about N30 million and the governor is holding on to the N270 million every month for the last 8 years and he has even refused to pay the monthly salary as at when due. Can Tinubu make a difference?
Buhari tried to ensure that local governments are free from the governors’ strong hold, but it did not work. Will the status remain the same under Tinubu?
Whatever happens, it is important to note that if the local governments are free from the corrupt clog of the governors, we shall witness improved service delivery. Local governments are responsible for providing basic services such as healthcare, education, and waste management to their constituents. With autonomy, local governments can prioritize and address the specific needs of their communities, leading to improved service delivery and better outcomes for citizens.
When local governments are directly responsible for revenue collection and expenditure, they are more likely to be responsive to community needs and concerns.
Local government autonomy can increase citizen participation and engagement in the political process. When citizens are able to hold their local governments accountable, they are more likely to participate in local elections and civic activities and when they have control over their budgets, they are more likely to make sound financial decisions that benefit their communities. With autonomy, local governments can generate revenue through taxation, grants, and other sources, and allocate resources according to local priorities.
If the corrupt over-sight of governors over local governments is not resolved to make the third tier of government attractive, we shall continue to have Nigerians who employed there but are out of the place driving Uber and riding Okada and are all over the country doing all kinds of jobs.
Every year, universities in the country are producing more graduates but when a vacancy announcement for positions in any of the juicy establishments across the country is made, it usually oversubscribed mainly by those in the main civil services and local governments who want to migrate to CBN, International Revenue Service, NNPC leaving the fresh graduates to riding Okada, driving Uber, and doing internet fee fraud (Yahoo Yahoo).
We are looking forward to a Nigeria where all workers would be treated as equal because they visit same market for shopping, use the same hospitals, their children are attending the same school. The idea of paying some a living wage and others a dead wage is not only a violation of their fundamental human right but an abuse of the privileges and misuse of power by our leaders.
As we keep on hoping and dreaming for a living wage for those who are still in service, let God also touch our leaders to remember those who have already retired otherwise, we shall be seeing people swearing to court affidavit changing their age every year to remain in service while a politician who just worked in did four to eight years have a living pension with other allowances.
