We accepted N70,000 minimum wage for govt not to increase fuel price – Ajaero

President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero yesterday revealed the understanding which the organized labour had with President Bola Tinubu before accepting the N70,000 minimum wage during the national minimum wage talks at the President Villa, Abuja

Fielding questions during the Morning Show programme on Arise television yesterday, Mr Ajaero explained that during the meeting on new Minimum wage with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, the organised labour turned down the offer of increase in the price of petroleum to accept N70,000 as the new minimum wage.

He also disclosed that after the organized labour had agreed with the president on the Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, alternative, the labour went ahead to negotiate with a team of experts who agreed to convert vehicles to CNG at the rate of N300,000 but that on meeting with the government team, the officials rejected the NLC deal and instead announced that conversion of vehicles to CNG would cost N800, 000.

Recall that the organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, had insisted on N250,000 as the new minimum wage but later settled for the offer of N70,000 from the President.

When asked whether the President betrayed the trust of the NLC by increasing the petrol pump price despite the alleged ‘agreement’ with him, the NLC President said: “I have to narrate the scenario to you, and then we now choose the appropriate word, whether it is betrayed, deceit or whatever. While we were discussing, we stalemated at N62,000, even the states were saying they wouldn’t pay, so there was a stalemate that took us to Mr. President.

We insisted on N250,000 and Mr President at the meeting, turned to me and said, ‘Ajaero, you are the person holding my hand from increasing further’. And I said increase what? The president said, ‘since I said the subsidy is gone, we should have gotten the appropriate price. We should have increased. I want to sponsor you people, labour, to travel to these West African countries and know how much they are paying. Some are paying N2,000, N1,800, N1,700’. As he announced it, we declined immediately that we were not going to take that sponsorship.

“He said, ‘Okay, I will go to my office for one hour. You guys decide, if you agree for me to increase the price of petroleum products, I will pay you N250,000 minimum wage, if not, you take this N62,000’.

“But we said, Mr. President, no, we can’t sit down here to decide in your office, we will take about one week to go back and discuss and get back to you, which was exactly what happened and we adjourned for one week. And when we reconvened, we made it clear to Mr. President that we didn’t have any mandate to come there to discuss the price of petroleum products or increase, we were only there to discuss minimum wage and minimum wage alone we were going to discuss. And on the basis of that we accepted 70,000 (Naira)”.

In an interview with Saturday Vanguard after the television programme, Mr Ajaero said the workers were on edge as a result of the hike in the price of petroleum products and it was wrong for the president to take action and ask the people to respond.

According to him, “The basis of accepting the N70,000 minimum wage was for the president not to increase the pump price of petroleum products and we made it clear there. If he had gone ahead to increase it, then we need to discuss the implications because we can’t compare N70,000 with what is happening now.

From N700 to where we are now, we are having about a 70% increase and it is telling more on transportation. And there is no CNG bus that is already operating. Before you do such a thing anywhere in the world, you consult your social partners. And if you check the implications of the increase on the employers, the manufacturers, the organized private sector, as regards the cost of production, then the issue has to be negotiated.

The way forward is to reverse it because workers are on edge now to see whether they can go to work or not. We need to sit down, governance is for the people, governance is not all about increase in electricity tariff, increase in pump price of petroleum products, increase in taxes, etc. It has to be negotiated, various arms of government have to be involved in it.

The increase in the price of petroleum products has increased the sufferings of Nigerians. If the president doesn’t reverse it, he has inflicted more injuries on Nigerians and there is nothing anybody can do about it. Those who are at the receiving end are complaining and they will continue to complain”.

While speaking on the Arise television programme earlier, Mr Ajaero said the Federal Government inflated the cost of CNG conversion.

He said; “June 2023, after the ‘subsidy is gone’ statement, was the first conversation we had with the federal government and we agreed that CNG was better than petrol. We spoke with some experts who agreed to enter into the conversion of vehicles immediately and we were to reach almost three million vehicles within the first three months and the government said no. Those were asking for over N300, 000 for conversion. But when we met with the government team, they were talking of about N800, 000 and that derailed the process. And between that time and now, the government has procured some vehicles.

“I had said in that conversation that when a vehicle that is supposed to use CNG is procured and there is no station to fill it, that vehicle is as good as a carton. Even before they procured those CNG vehicles, many stations should have been able to refill the vehicles as they were coming in. So, that is the frustration we have now. As NLC, we have taken delivery of about 14 buses, some of them 15-seaters”.

“On the issue of why I have not announced that the NLC will go on strike, every organization has its modus operandi and the NLC president has no powers to say, at any time, that there will be a strike tomorrow. We have our administrative processes for convening a meeting at the earliest possible time when decisions on the next line of action will be made. No NLC president will come out and say we are going on strike tomorrow or tomorrow without the organs’ meeting – in most instances, either the Central Working Committee CWC or the National Executive Committee NEC – and we are following that process. Next week we should be able to meet and have conversations around this so that the personal views of the leader do not influence the position of the members”.

Also speaking on the programme, an economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, lamented the lack of gas infrastructure across the country.

He said; “Regarding the presidential CNG initiative, there is a lack of infrastructure. There is gas to power, there is gas to transport. Gas to power is gaining traction but gas to transport is different and the reason is that you need ‘Mother and Daughter’ stations across Nigeria. The utility of petrol or diesel is that you can drive into any fuel station in Nigeria, but it is not the same for CNG. If you are travelling interstate, how do you refill?

“You don’t have high-pressure transmission pipes across Nigeria to deliver gas. These are the issues that the government has to tackle at the institution’s level and that is why I have always said that the presidential CNG initiative is putting the cart before the horse. It is not going to work because the fundamentals are wrong”.

Recall that the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA; Civil Society Organisations, CSO; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA; Baptist Conference and Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI among others had also demanded immediate reversal of the hike.