The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has said the country’s reported economic growth has yet to translate into improved living conditions for Nigerians, particularly workers.
The association’s President, Shehu Mohammed, spoke yesterday during its South West zonal workshop on “A shift from confrontation to collaboration” in Lagos, where he also expressed concern over rising petrol prices.
Mohammed said the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released by the Federal Government on Tuesday did not reflect the economic realities confronting workers and other Nigerians.
“The reported growth is not reflected on the living condition of the Nigerians especially workers. We are the engine room of the economy. We lubricate the economy but it is very unfortunate that what we are facing today is that we are lubricating, but we are drying.”
He said the N70,000 minimum wage had already lost significant value to inflation even before its full implementation, leaving civil servants struggling to cope with rising costs.
“As I said earlier, even before the full implementation of the minimum wage, the rate of inflation had already taken away the value of the N70,000 minimum wage. It is not even about what is happening now; this is what we have experienced in the two to three years of implementation of the minimum wage.”
Mohammed said preparations should begin ahead of next year’s minimum wage negotiations to ensure workers have sufficient data to negotiate better remuneration.
“By next year, we are going into negotiations for a new minimum wage. So, any moment from now, in the pre-negotiation session, we need to kick-start the process so we have our data across the table and can negotiate a better minimum wage for Nigerian workers.”
He argued that improving the purchasing power of civil servants would have a broader positive effect on the economy.
“Civil servants are really the ones suffering because when you empower civil servants economically, then the nation will have a change of movement. When civil servants are deprived of a befitting minimum wage and economic empowerment, then definitely, the economy of the country will also suffer.”
On petrol prices, which have risen above N1,000 per litre, Mohammed attributed the increase to the consequences of subsidy removal and the country’s reliance on international market rates while domestic refineries remain largely non-functional.
“It is the other side of subsidy removal. Upon the removal of subsidy, that means you are going to buy fuel at international market rates, despite the fact that we have refineries that are not functioning. So, that has caused fuel prices to escalate to this level of over N1, 000.”
Meanwhile, the immediate past President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, has called for workers’ remuneration in the oil and gas industry to reflect prevailing inflation.
Osifo, who is also the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), made the call at a reception organised by the TotalEnergies E&P branch of PENGASSAN to mark the successful completion of his six-year tenure as president of the union.
He stressed that protecting jobs and ensuring workers’ wages keep pace with inflation should remain central to the future of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
