Nigeria's April polls - Nigeria's political parties are apprehensive of the credibility of the nation's April general elections as the Monday (28 March) ultimatum of the 'no wage, no vote' given to the Federal Government by the country's umbrella labour congress (NLC) draws to an end. The leadership of the NLC, last Wednesday, gave the government till Monday to sign into law the National Minimum Wage Act or face the wrath of Nigerian workers, who have threatened not to vote. The congress also summoned a meeting of the Central Working Committee of the union for Monday to take a final decision on the matter. NLC president, Abdulwaheed Omar said the mandate given to the leadership of the union at the last delegates' conference was to ensure that the Minimum Wage Act was signed before the April general elections.

Omar said, “The issue of national minimum wage is no longer new in Nigeria. It is a struggle that we commenced way back in 2008 and, so far, we have cleared many hurdles,' adding 'in my position as president, on behalf of my colleagues, I want to tell you that we are about to clear the last huddle.

“Recently, we were told stories about the signing of the new National Minimum Wage Act by the President (Goodluck Jonathan). This was made known to Nigerians by a government official and it was immediately debunked by the minister of labour.

“While the controversy raged, we were reliably informed that the bill has actually been forwarded to the executive arm of government. Therefore, the expectation is that Mr. President will sign the bill any moment and this is the expectation of Nigerian workers.”

The Nigerian workers are demanding for 18,000 naira per month minimum wage and some states have indicated their willingness to pay while others are uncertain. (US$ 1 =150 naira)

According to Omar the NLC had written, requesting audience with the president.

Already, the NLC’s threat to the government is brewing serious concern among the political parties about the elections, which are less than one week away, national newspaper, Sunday Punch reported.

According to the spokesmen of the parties, workers are major percentage of Nigerian voters and without their participation, an election cannot be said to have been conducted.

The Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed said the workers’ action portends ominous sign for the elections, adding, “If workers go on strike, it will remove credibility from the elections.”

Mohammed queried the announcement of the minimum wage by the government if it knew that it was not ready to give workers the new package, calling on the government to enter into a dialogue with the NLC.

His counterpart at the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Mr. Emmma Eneukwu said the workers could go about their protest in a better fashion, adding “we are appealing to them to come out and vote.

“If they do not, it will affect the elections. Changing the face of this nation is everyone’s responsibility and staying indoors during the elections won’t be of service to this country.”

The spokesperson of the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Yinka Odumakin called on workers to rescind their decision and “vote for candidates that are willing to pay the minimum wage and ignore those who are not willing to pay it.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, could not be reached as he did not pick his calls and he did not respond to the text messages sent to him by our correspondent.

Sensing that the workers meant business, the government last invited the NLC to a meeting on Tuesday.

Deputy President of the NLC, Mr. Promise Adewusi said, “It is our fervent hope that the President may seize the opportunity to assent to the minimum wage bill. However, our emergency Central Working Committee’s earlier call for Monday still stands.”

The President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, emphasised that though many had interpreted the groups’ threat as sabotage, it would not stop them from boycotting the poll if the new minimum wage was not implemented.

Esele said, “There will be a meeting between us and President Jonathan on Tuesday and after the meeting, the two unions will decide whether to boycott the April elections or not. It is the outcome of the meeting that will decide.

“Some people are saying the planned boycott is sabotage against the government but we will go on with it if the new minimum wage is not implemented,” he stressed.

Esele wondered why members of the National Assembly could increase their allowances while the Federal Government continued to drag its feet before implementing the N18,000 new minimum wage.

He said, “The National Assembly just passed the 2011 budget and they increased their allowance by 100 per cent. Nigeria is the only country where you increase your allowance by 100 per cent.

“They increased it from N111bn to about N200bn. Nigeria is running a deficit of over N400bn, which means we are going to borrow more money very soon and you are telling me that we cannot have our N18,000 minimum wage. It is not fair and we will go to any length to ensure that what we agreed is implemented,” Esele warned.

Pana 28/03/2011