Minimum Wage: Issues Of Choice, Illusion And Dire Consequences—Oladipo Oluwole

Minimum Wage

OpenLife Nigeria reports that Mr. Oladipo Oluwole, a retired civil servant and public affairs analyst has lent his voice into the face off between the federal government and the organized Labour on account of minimum wage request for workers.

Supporting his argument with historical anecdotes, Oluwole pointed out how, at the early stage of the rebirth of democratic practice in 1999, teachers’ cars adorned several corners of Abeokuta as a result of increase in wages without hullabaloo as currently being experienced in the political space.

He queried citizens’ errors in their ethno-religious sentiments which define the choice of contemporary leaders, resulting to myopic economic planning and poor standard of living as dire consequences.
Oluwole’s thoughts are reproduced below unedited

In any thriving democracy, political parties are the main institutions of leadership recruitment process.
Any other way, therefore, either based on emotion or ethno-religious sentiments, will definitely have dire consequences on the citizens.

Same applies to our personal choices of husbands, wives, friends, and relationships if based on emotion, sentiment and illusion in whatever form and at any point of our lives.

I have said this severally in most of my write ups, towards the 2023 political parties national primaries, and subsequent general elections which were later characterized by “emi lokan, eyin eleyi, (changed to) awa lokan, omo eni ko sedi bebere…daddy this is a religious war o”, in a nation on the edge of a precipice?

Having set up the pedestal of illusions, thereafter, both the federal government and labour unions,in their own subterranean cocoon, and subterfuge operational enclave, subsequently became very much unserious about workers wellbeing/welfare…#600,000 versus #60,000, minimum wage debacle, and dilly-dally, for a whole year, in the face of ‘subsidy is gone’, extraneous taxes, and their inflationary consequences.

In the course of these somersaults, it is only left for imagination what individual Nigerian worker and family have gone through.

Evidence abound of many lower and upper classes of people that have died, and are still dying of shock, arising from sudden change in their respective sociopolitical, and economic status.

Without doubt, a people get the type of government they so voted for, indeed.

Sometime in November, 1999, I saw a fleet of fine and exotic cars, on a field, while passing through a village, before Odeda, along Abeokuta in Ogun State.

I enquired whether they were selling cars in that small village. But I was told that it was a primary school field, and the cars were owned by the teachers.

That was when a political party and government that knew her onions were in power, between May 29, 1999, and that very November,1999.

Just five months of being in power by that political party and its elected leaders, workers salaries were increased, without prompting.

There was no pressure. No endless meetings for weeks, months or a year. Neither the alibi of we met an empty treasury, nor the flimsy and clumsy excuses that the previous government had looted the nation’s treasury.

That government didn’t excuse itself from paying genuine attention towards workers’ happiness on the grounds of then politico-economic international sanctions against Nigeria, etc.

Sincerely, that was the hallmark of commitment to citizens welfare. It was a reality against illusion.
Every government is supposed to create her own wealth to spend on people’s security and general welfare.

An insight into the future, judging by the present, another illusion will soon rear its ugly head, in the buildup to the one week…stopgap…tripartite resolution meeting, and the implementation of whatever wages, both the government and labour leaders may arrive at, which will eventually be dragged down to various governments predetermined periods for implementation!

I fervently hope we are learning, and shall eventually learn better as an individual, and a people, deliberately, intentionally, and passionately desirous of good living, and good things of life, for ourselves, children, and the future generations.

“kama maa ru eru eleru sori, ka wa fa eru tiwa lowo”- arojinle kankan ko si fun Eniyan to nso ori olori, towa jeki eye awodi gbe ori ti e lo!– ignorantly being supportive of internal oppressors’ wellbeing and interests, at our own peril, by being hoodwinked in, and susceptible to religious sentiment and ethnocentric generalization issues and attitudes, for others personal national political self-interests, ego and relevance, rather than our own collective interests, and total wellbeing.

One is free to decide and choose.

But one can’t be free from the consequences.

Truth is bitter, but very constant, indeed!

Oladipo Oluwole, a public affairs analyst and social commentator can be reached via:oladipooluwole21@gmail.com