Opinion
By Emmanuel Onwubiko
THE current administration is populated by cabinet level ministers that are not competent but were simply appointed on the basis of partisanship of the most crude and primitive specie.
Political jobs under President Muhammadu Buhari were simply jobs for the boys and even persons who were seen selling recharge cards in Kaduna but related to the President through extended family networks, were appointed into key decision making positions. Others got theirs as pure bonanza.
Then, the sharing of the ministerial slots was marred by bribery scandals. Some who are now ministers allegedly paid heavy bribes to key members of the cabal in the Presidency to win a seat to represent their states in the Federal executive Council.
In the area of crass opportunism and incompetence, one of such misfits include such ministers as the one who has been holding forte at the ministry of Labour and productivity.
It is not to my knowledge that money exchanged hands before he got his appointment as alleged in some media quarters especially when the late chief of staff to the President was alive. Ngige, may not have paid but is one of those who got their appointments as bonanza.
But Chris Ngige is such a big public burden and is rated lowest in the performance index by many experts. But one fact I know is that truly, he is unfit for such a huge National task.
His name is Chris Ngige who happens to be the only sitting governor (as he then was in Anambra State during the administration of President Obasanjo) in Nigeria’s political history that was kidnapped by armed political thugs of his so-called political godfather in cohoot with the police which were commanded by an Assistant inspector General of Police who hailed from Kogi State.
Chris Ngige as the then embattled governor of Anambra state was reportedly kidnapped and locked up in the toilet because the estranged godfather wanted him to sign his resignation letter in lieu of him not paying him monthly payouts by duress for not emptying the state’s treasury into the godfathers till. He said the godfather Chris Uba wanted him to swore an oath at the Okija shrine but he reportedly declined. Chris Uba denied.
The man Chris Ngige has also become very notorious as the cabinet level minister of Labour and productivity under whose watch due to crass incompetence, hundreds of thousands of University students sat at home for one year due to industrial dispute between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
He is also the notorious minister who unilaterally register two other unions in the Universities as a strategic approach to weakening the strength of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
So, I wasn’t really surprised to read in one of the National dailies that this character who for eight years has been the minister of Labour couldn’t bring up and win the negotiation for increased wages for public service workers including corpers of the NYS scheme, but he was quoted as tasking the incoming administration to address that issue. This man has no shame.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, shamelessly said that the incoming administration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, should review of the current minimum wage of N30,000 currently obtainable in Nigeria.
Ngige, who was a member of the committee that negotiated the present minimum wage in 2019 from N18,000 to N30,000, noted that the country’s minimum wage should be reviewed every five years to fit current standard of living.
The minister, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, further mentioned that he would include in his handover notes that the discussion surrounding minimum wage should start immediately the new government is sworn-in in May 2023, ahead of it’s implementation, which he said should be in May 2024.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said that the incoming administration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, should review of the current minimum wage of N30,000 currently obtainable in Nigeria.
Ngige, who was a member of the committee that negotiated the present minimum wage in 2019 from N18,000 to N30,000, noted that the country’s minimum wage should be reviewed every five years to fit current standard of living.
The minister, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, further mentioned that he would include in his handover notes that the discussion surrounding minimum wage should start immediately the new government is sworn-in in May 2023, ahead of it’s implementation, which he said should be in May 2024.
He said the discussions would involve the public sector, private sector and state governments, and according to the last bill passed should start a year before it officially takes effect.
He said, “It is a tripartite negotiation involving public sector, private sector and state governments. We entrenched in that bill or law that minimum wage will now have an automaticity of review every five years.
“So, from 2019 when it came into effect to 2024 will be five years but we also made a recommendation in our document which we submitted that the discussion, the negotiation should start one year from May 2024 when it supposed to kick-start.
“So, I’m envisaging that as from May 2023, the government will empanel the new minimum wage review committee for the nation.
It was that unproductive statement from Chris Ngige that reminded me of the near servitude of multitudes of youngsters who are graduates of Tertiary institutions and are engaged in the year-long national service under the National Youth Service Corps which recently clocked half a century of its establishment.
I imagined that each of these young graduates serving in different fields including in such sensitive areas as medicine, Pharmacy, legal, teaching and other ancillary services.
But do you know that each of these graduates doing the National service under the NYSC earn just N30, 000 per month? The former Director General of the NYSC Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim one told a select audiences in Abuja that doctors doing NYSC are most the key service providers in virtually all rural communities in Nigeria.
These corpers give a lot of added value in the nation building process, but all they get is just peanuts. So, how does anyone in government where these public officials are experts in pilfering public funds, would expect that a human being in Nigeria of the 21st century will survive on the slave wage of N30,000?
A big bag of rice in the market is N45, 000. A container of powerdered peak milk is about N20,000 and there is no renting of accommodation like the ine derisively called ‘face me, I face you’ or one room self contained in any part of Nigeria that is less than N250, 000 per year and these corpers posted to different places including hospitals, schools, Agricultural services, do not get the luxury of having their attached institutions provide them with accommodation. NYSC corpers who served around 1980’s used to be provided large accommodation by places of their primary assignments. But now, corpers are slave workers.
Yet, hundreds of thousands of these young children of Parents from far flung places are paid peanuts barely enough for a retiree in Arondizuogu to buy his weekly snuff.
So, I ask, are these corpers slaves of some ministries, local government areas and states for one year? What crime have they committed to be such odious maltreatment? Are they not citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? So, why pay them slave wages?
I must state here that the management of the National Youth Service Corps may be constrained somehow and probably handicapped statutorily regarding the increment of allowances for corpers because basically, increment of public service allowances and wages are the mandates of the Salaries and Wages commission which is domiciled within the Presidency.
So, the NYSC Management that would have naturally like to pay these corpers living wages, can’t do more than what the Central government provides for them.
I will cite a typical example. But the NYSC Management needs to push up the issue of comprehensive adjustments of the allowances of corpers to meet up with contemporary economic demands and then the central administration through the Salaries and Wages commission can actualise these improved allowances for corpers. This slave wage paid to NYSC Corpers constitute gross violations of the fundamental rights to the Dignity of the human person and is almost like subjecting them to servitude which is absolutely unconstitutional. These human rights provisions are replete in the chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999, as amended.
Not too long ago, a senior director in the NYSC alluded to the fact that some government agencies are subjecting NYSC Corpers to mistreatment that is certain way below how a human being in the 21st century should be treated. I want to say that the senior official we will soon quote, made strong points that find support in the Universal Declarations of Human Rights.
This person under reference above is the Coordinator of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Anambra State Mrs. Yetunde Baberinwa, who was recently in the media during a function coordinated by her office to urge employers of youth corps members in the state not to treat them as cheap labor.
She made the call during the corps employers workshop titled “Optimizing the NYSC/Corps Members Partnership for National Development in the Contest of the New Normal” held in Awka South local government of the state.
She said the scheme frowns at the under-utilization and unfair treatment of corps members by their various employers and it is not acceptable.
She said that corps members are not to be paid on commission but on an agreed monthly allowance not less than N10,000 to motivate them and argument the Federal Government allowance.
She said the scheme frowns at the under-utilization and unfair treatment of corps members by their various employers and it is not acceptable.
She said that corps members are not to be paid on commission but on an agreed monthly allowance not less than N10,000 to motivate them and argument the Federal Government allowance.
She also warned employers of corps members against authorizing their travel permits without approval from the scheme.
She said travel permit is to be recommended on corps members request to NYSC through their local government inspectors.
Speaking to Journalists on the side line of the program, the principal of Willie Obiano Secondary Enugu-Aguleri Anambra East local government, Mr. Amaobi Joseph, said the corps members sometimes are difficult to manage.
He said some of them travel out of the state without permission and knowledge of the school management.
He said, “Some of the corps members are truant, they sneak out and come in at their well. It is difficult to control them because some of them are living outside the school premises. When you try to punish them, it appears you are wicked, but we continue talking to them about the danger of their action.”
He also decried the dressing mode of some corps members, which he said are indecent and poor.
He said, “Some of them will come in with half naked dress and when we tell them to go and change, some will see it as punishment, most, later appreciate this.”
Reading the above, especially the side of that Secondary school principal in Anambra state, conveys the impression that most of the government agencies engaging corpers see them as slaves and talk down on them. Why should a school principal be justifying the clear mistreatment of corpers by highlighting such nonsense issues as the mode of dressing of corpers? How does the mode of dressing relate to their wellbeing and welfare whilst working under government agencies including teaching in schools?
In some places, these corpers aren’t even supported with some impress whereas in others even in Abuja, the corpers are given as little as N10,000 monthly as stipend.
In the Federal ministry of Women Affairs in Abuja, the directors perpetually deny corpers of any stipends and so these youngsters depend on the N30,000 allowance paid to them by NYSC to survive. Most Federal ministries, parastatals and departments of the federal government, siphon the stipends approved in their in-house budgets to service the corpers and support them in little ways.
But how? How can an average person support his or her survival with the paltry N30,000 allowance per month? This is the lowest form of crudity and wickedness.
Imagine the kinds of dangers these youngsters serving their nation go through and especially those of them who work as Adhoc staff during elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The corruption-ridden INEC most times even shortchange these young citizens of their financial entitlements even after making them go through the risks of conducting elections in Nigeria that are often volatile, deadly and violent.
For instance, the National Youth Corps members, who worked as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Adhoc staff within Oshodi-Isolo Local Council in Lagos State, recently decried poor treatment meted to them by INEC officials before and after the Presidential and National Assembly election.
Corps members who worked as Presiding Officers (PO), within the axis of Oshodi during the election process, said that their welfare expectations prior to the elections were not met, rather they were treated poorly throughout the entire exercise.
Media writers gathered that some Corps members and none corpers who worked as INEC Adhoc staff in Orile Oshodi had to sleep at their Residential Area Centres (RAC) for three days due to improper organisation by those manning the electoral process.
“We came to our RAC very late on Friday after our names were officially released that night at the Local Council. Since then, some of us had to stay at our RAC till yesterday morning due to poor organisation by those in charge. Some of us didn’t have access to food and water to bathe, even after the election exercise on Saturday, we were left in a state of confusion and disorderliness at the RAC,” said a Corps member.
Similarly, Adhoc staff in some polling units in Orile Oshodi, particularly parts of Mafoluku, Oke-Ofa and Okota areas decried the threat to their lives at the polling units by armed political thugs.
The media also learnt that ballot papers and boxes were burnt to ashes in Mafoluku axis by political thugs, who snatched ballot boxes in other areas within Orile in Oshodi of the council.
I have on one or many occasions in many years been confronted by requests from corpers who just want to even do nighttime jobs in social clubs and hotels just so they make some extra incomes to be able to pay the ever expanding frontiers of costs of living.
Yesterday afternoon, a corper working in one of the public schools in Kuje called me frantically to beg for foodstuffs to be able to eat until her paltry N30,000 allowances are paid.
You see, this is one of the reasons some persons are actually calling for the abolition of the NYSC since the corpers are practically turned into slave labourers who are made to do some very demeaning things that lowers their self dignity including part time prostitution just so they can put foods on their table.
How can a Parent be happy to know that his child that he funded his or her education at great costs abd for years with their savings, are being practically turned into modern day slaves and why can’t even such bodies as the United Nations that campaigns against modern day slavery be asked to intervene and compell the Nigerian central administration to at least improve the allowances of each corper to between N80,000 and N100,000 per month?
The cost of living is so high and inflation is at all times high, but these skilled youths serving Nigeria under the auspices of NYSC are treated as modern day slaves by paying them allowances that aren’t big enough to buy them few loafs of Agege breads per month.
Specifically, the news from the National Bureau of Statistics regarding the rate of inflationary trends in Nigeria is much more than horrific. Then to even realise that our statistics are not gathered following global best practices, will now tell us that what we are even told may be heavily challenged ethically, meaning that they may way lower than the actual facts.
As arguments on the accuracy of Nigeria’s inflation report heighten, Yemi Kale, the former Statistician-General of Nigeria and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics has admitted that the index weights and basket used for measuring Nigeria’s inflation is outdated and needs review.
Kale left office in 2021 and was replaced by Simon Harry.
Kale who is now a partner and chief economist at KPMG Nigeria stated his position during an interview on Arise TV monitored by THE WHISTLER.
The former NBS boss said, “The inflation rate might not completely reflect current activity because the basket is outdated.”
The International Monetary Fund said in the ‘Nigeria: 2022 Article IV Consultation’ that the index weights and basket deployed is outdated.
IMF said, “The official monthly consumer price index (CPI), a composite of urban and rural price data, is available on a timely basis. However, the index weights and baskets are based on expenditures derived from the 2003/04 National Consumer Expenditure Survey.
“The weights are severely outdated and are not representative of current expenditure patterns. Outdated weights can introduce a bias into the index.
“The update of the CPI—using new weights from the 2018 National Household Livings Standards Survey—is still ongoing. The compilation of an updated producer price index is ongoing but funding for the survey is uncertain. AFW2 plans to provide additional technical assistance to support the CPI update and improvements to Nigeria’s price statistics.”
Bismarck Rewane, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company is one of the economists that has been at the forefront of faulting the inflation figures emanating from the NBS.
Bismarck had argued that the NBS basket for measuring inflation was constituted back in 2009.
The consumer basket is supposed to be reconstituted every five years, Rewane argued.
Nigeria’s inflation was 21.91 per cent in February 2023 but Rewane measured inflation above 40 per cent if the basket is ‘reconstituted’.
Kale said, “Statistical methodolgy has to be reviewed every now and then. Mr Rewane is correct and wrong. He is correct in the sense that the CPI is based on household consumption of 2009 and it is outdated. But it is wrong when he said nothing has been done about it because I know full well that just before I left, we had constituted a process of re-weighting the CPI using the more updated consumption basket.
“And yes, they have some changes in the weight. For example, the weight of telecommunication is much higher; the weight for food eating is much higher; transportation is much higher. That affects the food basket which will affect the overall inflation. Yes, I won’t say that the current inflation rate is 100 per cent accurate because the basket has changed and I know that we have completed the process of re-weighting.
“We are almost in the process of starting the process. I expect that the NBS publish the new weight anytime soon. The statistical methodology will tell you that when you have such a big change you are going to test the new weight for a time to ensure there are no problems. Maybe that is the stage that the bureau is currently in.”
Be that as it may, let us even get the latest statistics on inflation in Nigeria and then we realise how bad the economy is for NYSC Corpers earning this paltry N30,000 allowance per person per Month.
Nigeria inflation rate has risen to 21.91%, compared to January 2023 inflation rate which was 21.82%.
The percentage represents a 0.09% point increase.
This was disclosed in a recent Consumer Price Index report by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
The rise in the inflation rate followed the naira crisis across the country and uncertainties relating to the just concluded presidential election.
The NBS said the rise in food inflation was caused by increase in prices of oil and fat, fish, meats, vegetable, yam and other tubers, bread and cereals, and other foods.
So, scientifically and otherwise, we can deduce that the N30, 000 allowance per person per Month paid to corpers of the NYSC is nothing but a SLAVE WAGE.
Do we really really have conscience in the governance of Nigeria?
***EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.
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Tags: Chris Ngige Emmanuel Onwubiko INEC NYSC President Muhammadu Buhari
