The minimum wage crisis looks not to be ending anytime soon as the Federal Government looks to be heading for a showdown regarding the numbers presented by the government and the one that was believed to have been reached with the President Buhari led Federal Government negotiating team.

The area of conflict actually began when the Council of States chaired by President Buhari, which includes all sitting governors and former Head of States. The Council, in its submission, agreed to peg the minimum wage at N27,000.

The President stated that the wage was in agreement with what the 36 governors believed can be conveniently paid. He also stated that the NLC and members of the organised labour can further negotiate about increment but it cannot go lower than N27,000.

However, labour has publicly issued its opposition to the new wage structure, they stated that the original wage agreed to by the Federal Government must be agreed to and, they also insist that if that is not enforced, then they will have no choice other than to go on an indefinite strike.

The NLC recently revealed that the 30 states have agreed to pay the N30,000 minimum agreed with the tripartite committee, the further asked the Bukola Saraki led National Assembly to ignore the proposal of the Federal Government when looking at the final product of the minimum wage bill.

“So far, 30 state governors have agreed to pay N30,000 and only six are still delaying their support.

“We, therefore, have the unremitting obligation as representatives of Nigerians to device a broad-based, across the spectrum, holistic and dynamic minimum wage template and regime that will address our peculiar diverse complexity and the issues raised,’’ President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said.

Still, on the same matter, the minister of labour, Chris Ngige, was booed by workers when he went before the House of Representatives to defend the Government’s position on the proposed N27,000.

The workers were obviously not satisfied with the position of the government. In a way of taking the side of the workers, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, stated that labour is completely justified in its demands for an increase in wages, however, the speaker further revealed that he is of the opinion that N30,000 was not enough insisting that the workers deserve more.

“While we are not oblivious of the current economic downturn and the dwindling revenue of Government, we cannot also be blind to the fact that all economic indices indicate that even the 30,000 Naira Minimum Wage that Labour is asking for is not enough to sustain a small family unit.

“The nation may not have enough to satisfy the minimum demands of the Nigerian worker, but as a nation, we need to set our economic priorities right and ensure that we dignify our workers by making allowance for their minimum comfort. I know of no alternative if we hope to up the productivity level of our workforce.

“It is said that the promise of democracy is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. According to Thomas Jefferson, these are God-given rights. Therefore, it is not enough to merely be alive and free, one must also be engaged in the pursuit of happiness in order to enjoy the promise of democracy.

“If that is the case, can we say that Nigerian workers are enjoying the promise of democracy?

“Can we say that millions of our youth who roam the streets daily in search of non-existing jobs are enjoying the promise of democracy? Absolutely, no. This is because, although they are alive and free, they lack the means with which to pursue happiness.

“While the workers are underemployed, the latter are unemployed. So as a country, we are battling twin evils, namely: underemployment, which is as grave a problem, as unemployment.

“Dr King Jnr aptly summed it up when he said, while talking about underemployment in America, that ‘Most of the poverty-stricken people of America are persons who are working every day, and they end up getting part-time wages for full-time work.’ Of course, America has moved on since Dr King’s time. We must make Nigeria move on in our time,” Dogara said.

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