There was a serious argument the other day between groups of workers at the Secretariat building along the Sapele road, in Benin City. It was on the strike action by workers in the country over the minimum wage which will commence on the 6th of November 2018.

From what they were saying, one could deduce that they are inferring that the enemies of the Nigerian people are some self centered politicians because they are privileged to be on the saddle of government where decisions are made for the overall good of the people but yet they do not see any reason why they should act for the good of the people.

Interestingly, some of the governors whose security votes alone runs into several hundreds of millions are amongst these enemies of the Nigerian people as exhibited during this imbroglio over the payment of a mere N30, 000 as minimum wage for Nigerian workers. According to the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC the government is shying away from the recommended N30, 000 by the tripatite committee duly set up by the government. What a shame from these governors who have put forward excuses why they cannot pay this amount in a nation where political office holders earn some of the highest wages in the world and the public sector workers are literally begging to get the crumbs.

Their refusal to pay the minimum wage to the workers who are laboring for the development of our country is no doubt an attempt to undermine and take the workers for granted because any rational human being who appreciates the role of the workers will not deny them this amount which was even cut down from their initial demand of N65, 000.

The decision of Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki to be the first to pay any amount agreed upon as minimum wage has continued to receive commendation. This move is not necessarily because the state has the abundant resources to meet this critical sector of the economy but because as a technocrat he obviously knows the importance of the human capital to governance which other state governors must emulate and he has kept fate with his promise by meeting all its obligations in terms of salaries and welfare of the workforce since assumption of office.

With 2019 just by the corner, when Nigerians will be deciding on who leads them for another four years, these are some of the issues that will be determinant factors especially for the political parties.

We are not oblivious of the fact that some of these politicians do not care what happens to the people in as much as they get what they want. They believe so much that they do not even need the people to get what they want in as much as they can throw some money around because the people are hungry, then they will get their way.

It is this heinous and callous attitude of our politicians that has continued to hunt them in their enterprise. Just the other day, after the party primaries, the political space was heated up which resulted to the fragmentation within some of the political parties.

We all know that in politics, there are no permanent friends but interest that binds politicians together. If your interest is at variance with mine there is bound to be some disagreement of sorts. But if we have to exchange blows publicly to the extent it brings opprobrium from the public it is still politics.

However, these actions of some politicians have scared some persons with good intention away from partaking in politics.

Most Nigerians are no more surprised with the attitude of some politicians who are greedy and nonchalant to the plight of the people. As the campaigns commence in the next few weeks, the people will be the beautiful bride of politicians who will be seeking their votes again.

There is no doubt that one of the problems we are facing in the country is that our political firmament is full of charlatans, praise singers, human worshippers bootlickers and persons who live rental lifestyles and hence perpetrate a situation where leaders are just being recycled.

This explains why the country is today full of frustration, anger and widespread disappointment by majority of the people at the grass root. The attitude of some politicians is clashing with the interest of the people who voted for them to occupy political offices where they have found themselves. This is because very often, most politicians put their selfish interest over and above the people when they are in the corridors of power and that is capable of tearing down any government that is insensitive to the plight of the people.

Now, workers are preparing for a show down with the government by going on strike because the government refused to yield to workers demand that the national minimum wage be N30, 000. It is however the expectation of any right thinking Nigerian that the negotiations should have yielded a positive response to avert the strike action that will shut down the nation.

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige and the state governors should have been sensitive to the plight of the people and yield to what the workers are demanding. When a government is fair and treat everyone as equal stakeholders then there will be peace and progress. These are the ideal that would endear any political party worth its salt to Nigerians both at home and in Diasporas.

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Eubaldus Enahoro is Deputy Editor with the Nigerian Observer
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