MAN: Prioritisation of Workers’ Welfare key

 

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria MAN, says the welfare of employees in any organisation should be the top priority of the employer.

Chairman, of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Southeast, Lady Ada Chukwudozie, said this in Abuja while speaking exclusively to Voice of Nigeria.

Speaking on the sidelines of the recent public hearings by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage TCNMW, Lady Chukwudozie who is also a member of the Committee representing the private sector, said that no employer of labour will deliberately want to short-change their employees by remunerating them below their capacity, commitment and productivity.

She identified the scarcity of foreign exchange, and multiple taxation among some of the challenges faced by the private sector especially manufacturers which she said reflects the remunerations of their employees.

Lady Ada Chukwudozie is the Managing Director of Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited. As a member of TCNMW, she was part of the North Central Committee that sat in Abuja, where figures like 709,000 and 444,000 naira were reeled out by some labour unions as the expected national minimum wage by the time the Committee concluded its work.

“Well, as a member of this Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, we’ve listened to the public, we’ve listened to mostly the TUC the NLC and some other members of the public and we’ve listened to several different demands where some people were demanding for 70,000, some people were demanding for 700,000 naira.

“And for us, as employers of labour, we are also very touched by the situation and condition of service of our staff. By rights, the welfare of every staff should be a major concern to an employer. 

“The challenge is, you want to pay a wage that is fair, in a wage that is affordable, and a wage that you can sustain”, she said.

The organised labour in Nigeria has always advocated for what it call a “living wage”, rather than a “minimum wage”, saying that the wage paid to workers in Nigeria does not take them home.

This is one of the things labour wants to achieve as the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage which it’s a member begins to sit to recommend a new national minimum wage in the country.

 

For the Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, South East, Lady Chukwudozie, a living wage should be out of the question because according to her, no employer can afford a living wage.

“So even if you’re talking about living wage, the living wage should be out of it because employers can’t pay the minimum living wage, what we are talking about is minimum wage and not minimum wage living wage.

“So you’re talking about the health of these private sector employers, the health of their businesses, the same inflation that is affecting the common man is also affecting the employers of labour, the interest rate is very high, the cost of acquisition of foreign exchange is also very high.

“All the factors of production have been affected by this inflation by the high costs of foreign exchange, and it has trickled down to every sector of the economy and so businesses are trying to, in fact struggling to stay afloat.

“If you listen to news recently, you hear about several companies posting losses in billions of Naira, principle fund being eroded, and MAN recently published that 767 companies have gone under”.

She said that the issue at the end of the day would be how affordable the private sector can afford the minimum wage that is being recommended, or that has been suggested by Labour.

For someone who does know the difference between a living wage and a national minimum wage, Lady Ada Chukwudozie, throws light on the difference.

“Minimum wage is the least amount of money that you can pay to your worker or an employee? Whereas living wage, you need to bring into consideration how much what can money you’re paying that wage, you’re paying to your staff, and what the purchasing power of that money, in terms of the high cost of living for that staff?

“So that’s the difference. So now, everything you’re looking at the health of the staff, you’re looking at, oh, how much is it going to cost the staff to take care of himself if he falls sick? How much is the cost of a bag of garri? How much is the cost of your bag of rice? And oh, how much is it going to cost him to come to work? So that’s not the point in question, we’re looking at the minimum wage, which is the least amount of money that you can afford to pay your staff and that is status quo”.

Voice of Nigeria sought to hear from her as a private sector employer, how much she would be recommending as the new National Minimum Wage.

“We are making consultations right now so it’s not for me to come and pronounce or suggest or recommend.

 

 “It’s important that for us in the manufacturing sector, we have to consult our members across various sectors, and then look at submissions from all the other stakeholders.

“So the Committee has just had a public session to listen to the people and then I think we’ll bring it all to the table and we’ll have a wholesome discussion around it”, she said.

As Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Southeast, Lady Ada Chukwudozie’s jurisdiction covers Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States.

 

Dominica Nwabufo