Wage adjustment: Nasarawa groans under 26-day workers’ strike

Muhammad Aminu, in his 50s, suffered the negative impact of the ongoing workers strike in Nasarawa State, in an unforgettable manner. He lost his 80-year-old mother as a result of the strike embarked upon by medical doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), in the state. The aged woman who suffered from […]

Muhammad Aminu, in his 50s, suffered the negative impact of the ongoing workers strike in Nasarawa State, in an unforgettable manner. He lost his 80-year-old mother as a result of the strike embarked upon by medical doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), in the state.
The aged woman who suffered from hypertension and kidney complications had been under the care of doctors at Dr Dalhatu Arab Specialist Hospital in Lafia. As a result of the medical workers strike, doctors kept away from the hospital, leaving patients unattended to. Aminu had to evacuate his frail mother from the hospital to a private hospital in Lafia, which did not have the facilities available at the government-owned specialist hospital.
This reporter encountered him while he made spirited efforts to arrange a proper medical care for the woman. A day after Aminu’s mother died.
His mother was one of the thousands of residents of the state who are suffering from the protracted workers strike over wage adjustment. The NMA began its strike to press home demands for the implementation of an old agreement between the union and the state government on what is referred to as a “new salary scale for doctors” to align they pay package with those of their counterparts in the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi. Then, on July 4, 2016, the state’s branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), embarked on an industrial action to protest the downward review of workers’ salaries. All sectors in the state have come to a standstill, except the judiciary, because the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, (JUSUN), that declined to join in the strike, which has entered into its third week.
The state chairman of NMA, Dr. Friday Omolei argued that the government signed an agreement to implement the new salary scale on or before March 31, but failed to do so, without giving a convincing explanation as to why it has not.
“The agreement and memo signed between NMA and government is before the governor for assent but up till now he refused to do so for onward implementation. As a result of this many consultants have left our hospitals because of the breach of the deal,” Dr. Omolei explained.
However, the government has argued that under the current atmosphere, with dwindling revenue from the Federation Account, it cannot meet up with such hike in salaries.
The Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Nasarawa State governor, Malam Ahmed Tukur, told newsmen recently that the highest allocation the state received from the Federation Account was in January. The state received N2.234 billion and paid out N2.321 billion as salaries and overhead, such that N87.3 million deficit, which it had to source. In April, the situation got worse as the state received N1.6 billion, but had to pay a wage bill of N2.4 billion and overhead. To make up, the state had to look for N810 million as loan to augment. Under this atmosphere, Tukur said, there was no way government could embark on salary increment.
The state government has paid salaries up to date, but there are fears that more borrowing to pay salaries and overhead could not be sustained for much longer. The governor, Tanko Al-Makura said he doesn’t want to owe salaries the way it is in some states and sought a deal with the NLC on a gradual salary adjustment. A document showing the proposal made available to Daily Trust showed that the least worker would lose less than N700.00 from the basic salary every month while the highest paid civil servants, who are entitled to several other allowances could forfeit between about 40 per cent of their salaries.
The table shows that a Civil Servant on Grade 1, level 1 who at present earns N18,900.00 monthly, would earn N18,216.00; while those on the highest step, that is, Grade 1, Step 15 who earn N24,114 will be earning N21,016.00. Under this arrangement, those on Grade 9, Step 1 who earn N65,055.00 would earn N41,281.64 with those on Grade 16, Step 9 who earn N241,681.00, would be paid N121,930.57.
The government had argued that the gross pay in the state is higher than what several other states pay. Governor Al-Makura gave an example that in Kaduna State, a Civil Servant on Grade Level 16, Step 9 receives N129, 747.06 monthly, those in Niger State on the same grade gets N102, 638.58, while those in Kwara State receive N154,171.67 monthly, but in Nasarawa State workers on Grade Level 16, Step 9 receive N241,681.69. According to him, the disparity has put his state in a difficult condition.
Sensing trouble, Governor Al-Makura convened a stakeholders’ summit and raised the alarm over the dwindling revenue, the high wage bill and worse still, the government’s inability to executed projects due to the crunch. He further sought the stakeholders’ contributions on the way forward. In the communiqué at the end of the summit, apart from asking government to diversify the economy, specifically by harnessing the agricultural, solid minerals, tourism and taxation potentials of the state, further called for dialogue between government and labour in order to review the salaries of public and civil servants.
The governor had argued that the number of civil servants in the state was 25,000, which is about 1 per cent of the state’s 2.5 million people and finds it difficult the justify expending all the allocations on salaries and overhead, leaving out the provision of security, health, infrastructure, agriculture and other social services that government has to provide mandatorily.
The Governor, during the Democracy Day celebration on May 29, blamed the wage crisis on the imposition of National Minimum wage in the country by the federal government, disregarding the fiscal capacity of state governments, who are the major employers of labour.
The state chairman of NLC, Comrade Abdullahi Adeka, told Daily Trust that the government had reverted to status-quo the salaries of workers in health and tertiary institutions, but had embarked on pay cut for civil servants, arguing that such measure was not acceptable to them.
In his words: “It is only the NMA that is affected in the situation, but they are pressing on the implementation of their salaries scale to conform to that of their counterparts at the Federal Medical Centre. But the core civil servants, who are the engine room of the government, are still left with slashed salaries. That was why we will not call off the strike.”
He added that the union had handed over the issue of the strike to the National Secretariat of the NLC, adding that the union had delivered a letter to the Deputy Governor Silas Agara to notify government of plans by NLC to visit the state soon.
Dr. Omolei on his part said: “We are pained by the current situation because doctors are not trained to stay at home, but the action is an inevitable decision. But we are willing to resolve the lingering crisis. We are ever ready for dialogue to sort out the problem.”
The strike affects all sectors of state economy. A fruit trader in Lafia, Halilu Yusuf, narrated his ordeal thus: “I used to sell between 10 to 15 balls of watermelon and one bag of orange every day, but I had to stop selling the watermelon due to poor market as a result of the strike.
He added that majority of his customers are civil servants and since the beginning of this strike, he hardly sell two balls of watermelon per day.  “If I continue to keep them they can easily get rotten. I now manage to sell less than a quarter of a bag of oranges in a day”, he said.
Aminu, who lost his mother said: “We are calling on Governor Al-Makura to sit down and dialogue with the civil servants especially medical workers and resolved this lingering crisis once and for all and reduce the sufferings of the ordinary people. I want to appeal to the striking workers also to acknowledge that the economic reality in the country may make it impossible for them to get everything they want from the government. There has to be compromise on their side. They should dialogue with government so that the untold hardship in the state could abate.”
On his part, the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Suleiman Azores, said that government was working towards resolving the crisis with the labour leaders but described the claims of the NLC that the Internally Generate Revenue, (IGR), was over N1 billion monthly as fictitious. According to him “the monthly IGR is on an average rate falls between N350 million to N400 million.”
The Speaker, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, also appealed to the striking workers to end the action in the interest of the people and for the overall development of the state. Alhaji Balarabe-Abdullahi, made the appeal in a statement issued and signed by himself and made available to newsmen in Lafia.
He said that the salary adjustment had become imperative considering the economic challenges facing the state due to the dwindling allocation accruing to it from the Federation Account. He added that it is the nation at large that was facing the current economic challenge and not only the state. 
The speaker urged the striking workers to return to work, saying that the state was among the first to implement the N18, 000 national minimum wage in 2011.
Balarabe Abdullahi, also urged the workers and other Nigerians to continue to pray for an improved economy in order to better the standard of living of the people for the overall development of the country.
But, the situation in Nasarawa State is very dicey as both labour and the government is not shifting grounds leaving a dire position that the strike may linger the more.