The Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum, PGF, Mr Salihu Lukman has urged organised Labour in Nigeria to perfect its negotiation skills rather than always resorting to protest and strike.
Mr Lukman who stated this in a press briefing at the PGF Secretariat in Abuja was reacting to the protest in support of a federal national minimum wage by the labour unions to the National Assembly in Abuja.
The PGF DG said that the protest to the National Assembly was needless because it would not stop the legislators from pursuing the process of moving minimum wage to the Concurrent Legislative List.
“We are not saying they should not protest but this protest is needless. I can guarantee that it is not going to stop the process in the National Assembly. It is not also going to take away the issue. We need to work with them to develop this democracy and we can only do that if every constituent unit and citizens in those units can negotiate with the constituent governments and get results. As it is, we are all frustrated and that is what we should be addressing. This ‘we against them’ that labour is creating does not exist. We should be applying ourselves to resolving the problems of this democracy. There are fundamental problems bigger than we can imagine,” he said.
Mr Lukman added that a structure that imposes the same minimum wage on a state as buoyant as Lagos and a state that is less buoyant like Zamfara or Yobe would impact negatively on productivity as workers in Lagos would feel short-changed and therefore not give their total commitment to their job.
He noted that even if all states commence paying the N30, 000 minimum wage, the problems of Nigeria’s workforce would still remain unresolved.
“Assuming every government pays N30,000, will that solve the problem of workers? So, nobody should deceive anybody. We all have a lot to do in this country. It is not about dancing on the streets, but they should develop their capacity. I am saying they have lied by saying that people proposing that minimum wage and labour issues should be moved to the Concurrent List, that they do not want the National Minimum Wage. I heard the NLC President, which is a disappointment, arguing that when it is not negotiated at the national level, it means it is not a ‘National’ Minimum Wage. I am saying you can still negotiate it at the national level but the methodology is important because you are looking for a benchmark which everybody should be able to pay. It is not about coming to the federal government.
“I am worried at the situation where anything that appears contrary to what labour wants, the next thing is to go on strike. My belief is that the main business of labour is negotiation and negotiation is about applying knowledge and information that you have”, Lukman said.
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