A wage is monetary
compensation or remuneration paid by an employer to an employee in exchange for
work done. Payment may be calculated as a fixed amount for each task completed
or at an hourly or daily rate, or based on an easily measured quantity of work
done. On the contrary, salary is a fixed regular payment made by an employer,
often monthly, for professional or office work done as opposed to manual work.
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The term “minimum wage”
implies minimum legislated remuneration of an employee whether in public or
private sector. In Nigeria ,
we find that the organised private sector (OPS) is usually just guided by the
minimum wage because their compensation packages reward employees fairly
adequately and in excess of the minimum wage. On the other hand, the public and
informal private sectors regard it like the
doctor’s life-saving prescription i.e. not to be varied. Some would
rather go below it if they know that they can get away with it. That
is why many states shout on roof tops that they cannot afford Federal
Government determined minimum wage. The extravagant life styles of the
governors, however, belie such assertions.
Like it or not, fresh
negotiations must start soon given the current harsh economic realities; a
higher minimum wage is inevitable. It is only Federal Government that has the
constitutional responsibility to legislate it; of course that does not mean
that the state governors do not have a say. The National Economic Council will
drive the process culminating in enactment of an act by the NASS.
One would like to see a situation where the economic well-being of the states
is taken into adequate consideration alongside the welfare of their
workers in determining the new minimum wage. We have states that are agrarian
while some are commercial/metropolitan just as some are rich in mineral
resources especially oil and gas. The proverbial saying that all fingers
are not equal sums it up! Were the state governments to behave like
the organised private sector, the South-South and Lagos states should
have been rewarding their unskilled workforce more than agrarian states like Benue .
As negotiations
kick-off for a new minimum wage, the parties to the talks should bear this fact
in mind. It will not be inappropriate to classify the states according to their
resource bases e.g.
Tier 1:Agrarian States
Tier 2:Commercial/Metropolitan States
Tier 3:Mineral Rich States
Tier 1:Agrarian States
Tier 2:Commercial/Metropolitan States
Tier 3:
The negotiators should
reach an agreement as to which tier each state belongs. The minimum
wage emerging from the negotiations should be the
“life-saving prescription” for the poorest/agrarian states. In the
spirit of what obtains in the OPS, the more economically viable states should pay
more. For instance, commercial/metropolitan states like Oyo, Kano and Kaduna
which should fall in Tier 2 can bear a premium (say 20-25 per
cent) on this minimum while the oil producing states including Lagos
falling in Tier 3 should be able to afford a higher premium (say 50
per cent) over and above the minimum wage.
In other climes, the
minimum wage applies across board irrespective of employer’s location
or economic sector but, if we must be honest with ourselves, the gulf between
the rich and the poor states in Nigeria is so vast and so
glaring that an across-the-board minimum wage smacks
of inequity.
It seems
what we have hitherto termed minimum wage hardly
qualifies to be so called; rather it is minimum salary! We hear of
“so much” per month! Nothing like per hour or per day. Artisans and their
helpers operate on daily rate wage basis. Minimum wage usually
seeks to protect this class of workers. Happily enough, they do not wait for
any legislation before escalating their wages. Their wages are highly
sensitive to the dynamics of changes in cost of living. Wage
negotiations in the OPS follow the same pattern; in-house workers
unions engage their employers on continuing basis whenever inflation eats deep
into their pockets.
On the contrary,
Federal and State governments go to sleep once a minimum wage has been set
waiting to be roused out of slumber by a tsunami of labour protests. Is there
nothing like Wages Commission to regularly adjust wages to ameliorate the
impact of inflation? If we have organs of government like NERC and PPRA
regulating tariffs and prices which impact on cost of living, it is only
logical that there should also be an agency to regulate minimum wage. The
Minimum Wages Commission Act should not stipulate any specific amount
in order to avoid re-enactments whenever new wages arise.
In as much as new wages arise in order to cushion the effects of inflation,
they should not on their own be seen as causative agents of inflation. This is
where sound management of the process comes in. When a new minimum wage is
heralded by a tumultuous bang, it is perceived as largesse pretty much like the
old “Udoji Award” thus creating another round of inflation.
A wage should be the
totality of a worker’s remuneration. If your wage is for example N200/hr and
you work 40 hours per week, your wage is N8,000.00 for the week; no more, no
less.
Salary administration
in Nigeria
recognises a plethora of allowances such as accommodation, transport, lunch
etc. Let us therefore be clear in our minds what we are talking about
especially when it relates to its application in the public sector. Add-ons
should only apply to employees on salaries and those on minimum wage.
* Dr. Eribake, an
engineer, is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
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