The population of Nigerian civil servants stands at 1.2million, according to the Honourable Minister of Information; that’s paltry out of our over 200m population. Hence the need for them to disrupt menacingly in their agitation for better pay? They keep asking for increased salaries to cushion the effects of the present economic hardship, accusing the government of the day of several hyperbolic sins; but they too do not deliver good service, and are ever ready to down tools. Ironically, they expect more money from this economy that they incessantly try to strangle to death. What a contradiction. They are not ready to work, but they want to earn. They are not ready to listen but they want to be heard. At every turn, they threaten with strike, as if only Nigerian workers own the country. What about others who are not captured within the organised Labour workforce? And after they down tools, they turn around to ask for salaries they didn’t work for. From N30,000 naira minimum wage to N60,000; a 100% increase, you instantly reject, but you clapped for Governor Obaseki’s N70k minimum wage payment. Why don’t you grab that first, and watch the performance of the purchasing power and the economy, before you ask for more. These people are not at all patriotic; they don’t want to come down from their high horse of N494,000 benchmark but expect Nigeria to progress? As Labour leaders, you ought to factor in the larger interest of the country at heart, present a most realistic minimum wage benchmark, and not the bogus N494,000 you have presented.
Civil servants, also known as “evil servants,” are about the most unconscionable employees in Nigeria; rather than helping Nigeria to grow, they are killing our economy. A lot of them are slothful, yet they demand full pay by month’s end. They develop and generate corrupt schemes, with their genius; they were the collaborators in the subsidy scam; yes, the workers under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund who generated fake vouchers which they used, to claim humongous payments for work that was never done. A big part of their anger with this government is because the government has busted their cartel by announcing a removal of subsidy; so, they are poised to punish the government by going on strike after asking for an unsustainable minimum wage. How disingenuous? The NLC and TUC are sadonically selfish in their demand. They are enjoying their activism without doing the actual work they were initially hired for. Every rotten department of government has their imprimatur. The refineries have been made defunct. Who killed the refineries? Civil servants. Efforts are being made to fix the refineries, but their incessant strike action has been slowing down the pace. From the Accountant-General’s office to the smallest of our parastatals and agencies, it is all fraud, knavery, and corruption.
Civil servants will unnerve you if you appear to be a thorough-bred Nigerian, with a knack for due process. A little mistake will be blown out of proportion to destroy an appointee that tries to alter their apple cart. An ordinary clerk in the office can be more powerful than the head of a department or even a minister. Permanent secretaries are permanent fraudsters in the system. At retirement, they leave a tale of woes and financial malfeasance on their trail. Go to the ministries and hear the tell-tales; they are mind-boggling. Civil servants are the owners of the choice properties in Abuja and elsewhere. They own most of the shopping malls through proxies and business associates. A clerk who works at the lower rung of the ladder can be wealthier than an appointee who heads the unit, or the agency, by pushing files and hiding files. When strikes come, they shout the loudest to enable them the opportunity to go run their businesses for a while. Doctors in public practice also do private practices, where they devote more time than they do in their public places of work. Once they sense the advent of strike, they beat the drum louder, to make sure things are slowed down in the public sector to boost their private businesses. By the end of the strike, very many patients would have transited to glory, leaving their families to bear the pain of their loss.
It is high time in Nigeria that activism had a human face. It will do the NLC/TUC well to apply sense, empathy, logic and decorum in their “struggles” to make life better for their workers, without behaving like cowboys who already have motive for embarking on strike. And the question is; does strike add value to our national economy or substract from it? Do we gain each time we embark on strike or we gnash our teeth, counting our losses? If we don’t gain, how come we love embarking on strike? The colossal loss every time we embarked on strike cannot be quantified. For me, strike should be the last option when every other thing has broken down. It should be the last option in the absence of dialogue. Going on strike when government is willing to discuss with the Labour is tantamount to economic sabotage. The desire of 1.2m Federal workers, no matter how desirous, cannot override the interest of the over 200m Nigerians. When strikes are effected, hospitals don’t work for the patients, banks don’t work for the ordinary folks, schools are closed for those who desire to acquire education, and to make matters worse, West African School Certificate exams are abandoned. Is that how to grow a country that sets agenda for her future leaders? How can NLC/TUC ignore all the clarion calls to allow WASC go on in the interest of our children? What does strike put on the table?; ego, arrogance, sabotage, gangsterism and demolition of an economy that is already facing different pressures. Who suffers? The big man or the poor man?
I am particularly peeved at the recent recourse to strike. Whose interest does it serve? The interest of the 1.2m workers against the other 200m citizens? I personally will advocate for serious reforms in the civil service to weed out some very incompetent workers, lazy felons who assemble at the bar at night to salivate their appetite for alcohol, and during the day, are sleeping because of their hangovers. Most Labour leaders have abandoned the work they were hired to do ab-initio, and now gladiate in strikes to keep their relevance in such banal display of egocentricity. After strike, what next? You are still brought to the negotiable table to continue from where the initial discussion ended. If that is the case, why show so much hunger for strike when the roundtable offers opportunity for dialogue. Why destroy an economy simply because you want additional pay; a case of killing the employer because of the employee? If you kill the employer(economy), who will employ the employees? Rather than apply simple logic to rationalise government’s decision and arrive at a middle road solution, what is all this display of ego? I expected the Labour Union to grab the 60k minimum wage first, and allow the government to implement, then at another time, ask for more like Oliver Twist. Civil servants should not hurt our economy on the one hand and ask for salary increment on the other hand. Who does that? Is it not the same economy that will grant government the opportunity to increase salaries? Can you ask for salary increment with a grounded economy or a paralysed system, where nothing works?
The NLC/TUC are gradually becoming irritants and very soon they will lose their respect. This untoward idea of using strike to armtwist government must stop forthwith. Private sectors are higher employers of Labour, but the employees in that sector are not essentric like civil servants. Who compensate for lost time in the private sector? Who caters for lost time and resources? When a person desires to see unreason over reason, the result are the egos of lazy unionists whose only language is strike today, and strike tomorrow. I implore labour, to factor in the interest of the country for once. This idea of strike under a government that is very interactive and conversational must stop. It is all in the interest of our dear country. Wake up NLC/TUC.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prince Kassim Afegbua is an Abuja-based public affairs analyst
