Oshiomhole: I compelled Tinubu to pay above minimum wage when he was governor

Lawmaker representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, has recalled how he declared a massive strike to compel the Lagos state government under Bola Tinubu to pay above the N5,000 minimum wage.

Oshiomhole during his time as the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), also said he decided to fight some policies of the federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure that workers’ dignity was respected.

He stated this at National Institute of Security Studies, Abuja, during a lecture organised for members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 17.

Speaking on the lecture titled: “National Minimum Wage: Reward system and productivity in Africa”, Oshiomhole said an unskilled worker could earn as high as $2,560 in a month in California.

The lawmaker called on the federal government and his colleagues in the Senate to work on the laws that would ensure workers are properly renumerated according to the work done as it is done in the advanced countries.

He specifically said poor renumeration has been the major factor responsible for present ‘Japa’ syndrome being faced by the country, adding only proper laws on renumeration in place on would curb the trend.

“A serious employer of labour should not pay minimum wage. They should pay much more. A major employer like the civil service should not pay the minimum wage, I expect that the federal government will over time adjust their minimum wage.

“When I was NLC president, we agreed that oil-producing states like Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos and those who have a huge revenue, should pay not less than 7,000 minimum wage, same as federal.

“Interestingly, when we pursued this policy, the president was the governor of Lagos State. He showed me all the books and told me he could not afford to pay. I had to compel him then. We organised strikes against this president, asking that he should use all the money necessary to pay salary, even if he can’t do any other thing.

“That’s my business. My brief was not to go and sympathize with the employers. My brief is to get them to squeeze out anything we can squeeze out,” the former labour disclosed to the gathering.

He also explained that the wage in other counties especially in California, United States, could be fueling the Japa syndrome experienced in the country.

The Senator said, “If you check with Google, you’ll find that California minimum wage as of today is $16 an hour. So, if a worker works for eight hours a day as we do in Nigeria, eight hours will give you $128 a day. In a month, if you work for five days a week, for four weeks, you work for 20 days, you earn $2,560 in a month.

“That is minimum wage for unskilled labor. And how much does that translate to in a month if you convert by exchange rate?”