April poll: Political parties worry over workers’ threat

As the ‘no wage, no vote’ ultimatum given to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Labour Congress expires on Monday, political parties in the country are worried that the April elections would not be considered credible if workers refuse to vote. The leadership of the NLC, last Wednesday, gave the FG till Monday to sign into law the National Minimum Wage Act or face the wrath of Nigerian workers. The congress also summoned a meeting of the Central Working Committee of the union for Monday to take a final decision on the matter. NLC president, Abdulwaheed Omar, said that the mandate given to the leadership of the union at the last delegates conference was to ensure that the Minimum Wage Act was signed before the April general elections. Omar said, “The issue of national minimum wage is no longer new in Nigeria. It is a struggle that we commenced way back in 2008 and, so far, we have cleared many hurdles. In my position as president, on behalf of my colleagues, I want to tell you that we are about to clear the last huddle. “Recently, we were told stories about the signing of the new National Minimum Wage Act by the president. This was made known to Nigerians by a government official and it was immediately debunked by the minister of labour. “While the controversy raged, we were reliably informed that the bill has actually been forwarded to the executive arm of government. Therefore, the expectation is that Mr. President will sign the bill any moment and this is the expectation of Nigerian workers.” The NLC boss added that the congress had written, requesting audience with the president. Already, the NLC’s threat to the FG is brewing serious concerns among the political parties about the elections which are just about one week away. This fear was evident when SUNDAY PUNCH spoke with spokesmen of the parties. According to them, workers are major percentage of Nigerian voters and without their participation, an election cannot be said to have been conducted. The Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said the workers’ action, portends ominous sign for the election. Mohammed added, “If workers go on strike, it will remove credibility from the elections.” The ACN spokesman queried the announcement of the minimum wage by the FG if it knew that it wasn’t ready to give workers the new package. He then called on the FG to enter into a dialogue with the NLC. His counterpart at the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Mr. Emmma Eneukwu said the workers could go about their protest in a better fashion, “We are appealing to them to come out and vote. “If they don’t, it will affect the elections. Changing the face of this nation is everyone’s responsibility and staying indoors during the elections won’t be of service to this country.” The spokesperson of the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, called on workers to rescind their decision and, “Vote for candidates that are willing to pay the minimum wage and ignore those who are not willing to pay it.” The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prof Ahmed Alkali, could not be reached as he did not pick his calls neither did he respond to the text messages sent to him by our correspondent. Sensing that the workers mean business, the FG last Friday invited the Congress to a meeting on Tuesday. Deputy President of the NLC, Mr. Promise Adewusi said, “It is our fervent hope that the President may seize the opportunity to assent to the minimum wage bill. However, our emergency Central Working Committee’s earlier call for Monday still stands.” The President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, emphasised that though many had interpreted the groups’ threat as sabotage, it would not stop them from boycotting the poll if the new minimum wage was not implemented. He said, “There will be a meeting between us and President Jonathan on Tuesday and after the meeting, the two unions will decide whether to boycott the April elections or not. It is the outcome of the meeting that will decide. “Some people are saying the planned boycott is sabotage against the government but we will go on with it if the new minimum wage is not implemented.” Esele wondered why members of the National Assembly could increase their allowance while the Federal Government continued to drag its feet before implementing the N18,000 new minimum wage. He said, “The National Assembly just passed the 2011 budget and they increased their allowance by 100 per cent. Nigeria is the only country where you increase your allowance by 100 per cent. “They increased it from N111bn to about N200bn. Nigeria is running a deficit of over N400bn, which means we are going to borrow more money very soon and you are telling me that we cannot have our N18,000 minimum wage. It is not fair and we will go to any length to ensure that what we agreed is implemented,” Esele warned. By Toyosi Ogunseye and Chukwudi Akasike Courtesy Of: Punch