Photo caption: Members of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. {Photo: Olukayode jaiyeola}
AS the world marks Labour Day 2025, the future of the Nigerian worker appears bleak. While the Nigerian Labour Congress must agitate for the dignity of the Nigerian worker, the federal and state governments must create an enabling environment for both the public and private sectors to thrive.
This year’s Labour Day theme, ‘Social Justice and Decent Work’, two socioeconomic factors that plague the working population, resonates with Nigerians.
According to the International Labour Organisation, social justice refers to equal economic security and opportunity. Decent work involves opportunities for productive work that delivers a fair income, security in the workplace, better prospects for personal development and social integration.
In 2023, Nigeria recorded a labour force of 110.18 million. This was laced with a significant concentration in urban areas and a deep youth figure. About 600,000 youths graduate from polytechnics and universities annually in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, Nigeria is plagued by inequality, unemployment, and a lack of decent work. The figures are disconcerting. The wages are grossly unequal.
Nigeria scored 35.1 per cent out of 163 countries in the global Gini coefficient, per Dataphyte. This means that income and wealth inequality are moderate, but exceptionally high.
In Nigeria, a federal lawmaker reportedly earns N21 million per month as running costs. In contrast, workers are deprived of the minimum wage in some states.
The minimum wage of N70,000 per month is equivalent to $45. This is far lower than New York’s $16.5 per hour minimum wage. Therefore, the take-home pay can hardly sustain workers, yet many states refuse to implement the minimum wage.
The PUNCH reported that 20 states have delayed the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, had lamented the failure of states to pay the new minimum wage, stressing that some states merely added N5,000 to the previous N30,000 salary.
However, justice demands that states implement the new minimum wage.
The unemployment rate is high. While it was pegged at 33 per cent in 2023, it was rebased to 4.3 per cent as of Q2 2024, under ILO standards. This misrepresents the gross underemployment and casualisation in the country.
Workers are engaged in casual labour, working for a few hours a week. The National Bureau of Statistics said in 2023 that 86.5 per cent of the jobs were informal, lacking contracts, pensions, and other benefits.
The unemployment crisis is compounded by the exit of international oil companies and multinationals from Nigeria.
In this category are Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, GSK, Sanofi, and Microsoft. They cited the harsh business climate, insecurity, poor electricity, and the depreciation of the local currency.
In the five years to June 2024, the exits cost the economy N94 trillion, according to a PUNCH report.
The country shed 20,000 jobs due to the departure of multinational companies in the three years to July 2024, said the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association.
There are very few decent jobs in Nigeria. It ranked No. 142 out of 167 countries in the 2024 ILO Decent Work Index.
The situation is compounded by the lack of electricity, infrastructure, and valuable skills. The economic volatility is aggravated by the removal of the petrol subsidies and the imposition of electricity tariffs by President Bola Tinubu.
According to the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, over 300 companies and 380,000 jobs were lost in April 2024 due to the hike in electricity tariffs.
The National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises disclosed that four million SMEs shut down in 2023 due to the removal of the fuel subsidy.
These closures leave Nigeria in dire straits, devastate the workforce, and impoverish the citizens.
A major reason for low wages is the lack of valuable skills in the workforce. At the background of the unemployment and underemployment crisis is Nigeria’s poor Human Capital Index of 0.36. According to the World Bank, this highlights the severe deficit in education, health, and workforce readiness.
China and India attract global manufacturing due to their technical expertise, while Nigeria’s technical education has declined. Manufacturers now source skilled labour from neighbouring countries. To compete, Nigeria must prioritise vocational training and upskill its public and private workforce.
The unemployment crisis is not just the Federal Government’s responsibility—states must also act.
Despite increased revenue from subsidy removal, many states have done little to improve workers’ welfare. They must invest in agriculture and job creation.
The Federal Government must stop pretending the economic situation is under control. It should stabilise the naira and review the various subsidies to ease citizens’ suffering.
It should back state policing to bolster a robust and effective federal policing architecture, which will improve food security in food basket states like Plateau and Benue.
The situation is compounded by taxes. Nigerians who can barely afford their basic needs have to pay taxes in structured organisations or face multiple taxes in informal endeavours.
Meanwhile, a 2024 Oxfam Inequality report stated that 99 per cent of Nigeria’s wealthiest citizens avoid or evade taxes.
The tax reform bills proposed by the Taiwo Oyedele-led committee seek to exempt minimum wage earners from taxation, recognising that their earnings are too meagre to tax. These bills should be passed swiftly to alleviate workers’ burdens.
Unfortunately, the NLC, once a vibrant pressure group, now seems toothless. It has failed to effectively advocate for these social justice and decent work, among other human rights.
In the past, Nigerians rallied behind the NLC’s agitations, but today, the organisation is lethargic and weak. It must reclaim its popular mandate and break free from its current docility.
Citizens like Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, and Omoyele Sowore have taken up the role of holding the government accountable, a role played by robust pressure groups like the NLC, NUPENG, PENGASSAN and the NBA.
While these personalities succeeded in galvanising public support and halting the removal of petrol subsidy under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the NLC failed to do so under Tinubu, giving way to economic backlashes.
The NLC must wake up from its slumber and fight for workers’ rights as it did in the past, during the struggle for democracy under labour leaders like Michael Imoudu and Hassan Sunmonu. Its collaboration with other pressure groups shook the military juntas, especially during the fight for democracy.
Unfortunately, state-level NLC chapters are weak, failing to pressure governors to pay the minimum wage.
States must invest in agriculture, support SMEs, and create an enabling environment for businesses.
The government and businesses must all work together to fix the economy, ensure decent work, and deliver social justice to Nigerian workers.
The government must fix the electricity sector, a sure means of enabling a robust business climate. The country has a capacity of 14,000 megawatts, but it cannot transmit above 5,000 MW through the national grid. This is grossly insufficient for industry.
Conversely, Nigeria’s continental peers are far ahead with Algeria on 24,000 MW, Egypt on 59,093 MW, and South Africa has 58,095 MW.
Thus, the grid should be devolved. The decentralisation programme in the electricity sector should be sustained and deepened.
Insecurity is a major drawback to work. Agriculture is 22 per cent of the economy, but Islamic terrorism, banditry and herdsmen rapine have combined to devastating settled farmers. This must change.
=== Punch Editorial Board ===
