Former Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, at the twilight of his administration, agreed to implement the new mimimum wage. OLAEKAN ADETAYO examines the challenges facing the new Governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in implementing the minimum wage.
Uneasy, they say, lies the head that wears the crown. It was the late Chief M.K.O Abiola that popularised a similar saying that the bigger the head, the more the headache. This is definitely what is currently playing out in Oyo State where Governor Abiola Ajimobi is calling the shots.
Ajimobi, who was inaugurated as the seventh executive governor of the state at a colourful ceremony on May 29, 2011, would have realised by now that governing a unique and cosmopolitan state like Oyo, that prides itself as the pacesetter state, is far from being a tea party.
From the first day he started occupying the driver’s seat at the Agodi Government House, his “headaches” have been coming in torrents. First, it was the notorious members of the state council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers who welcomed the governor in the way they know best: killing and maiming. Next was the protest embarked upon by students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan in their attempt to remind Ajimobi of his electoral promise that if elected, he would reduce their tuition fee.
But as he tackles these challenges one after the other, it seems they keep coming his way. Lately, the governor’s major “headache” has been the N18,000 new minimum wage recently approved by the Federal Government. During electioneering preparatory to the April 26 governorship election, the then governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, promised to implement the minimum wage in the state if re-elected. Though Alao-Akala lost that election to Ajimobi, he still went ahead to implement the new wage before he handed over the reins of the state to his successor.
At a point, Ajimobi who was still the governor-elect wrote a letter to the then outgoing governor warning him against approving a new minimum wage for workers in the state in the twilight of his administration. He said that it would be morally wrong for Alao-Akala to embark on such landmark ventures after he had been voted out of office and on the eve of his departure.
Ajimobi said since Alao-Akala would not be in a position to pay the salary before his departure from office, it would only be proper for him to allow the incoming administration to take such decision since it would impact seriously on the finance and business of the state government.“It would amount to mischief and a calculated attempt to undermine the authority of the incoming administration if Your Excellency goes ahead to approve the new minimum wage in this suspicious and controversial manner and at a time when you are almost out of office,” Ajimobi said.
In another letter to the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Oyo, Mr. Bashir Olanrewaju, Ajimobi counselled labour leaders in the state not to turn themselves into willing tools in the hands of politicians who he claimed were hell-bent on undermining the mandate freely given to him by the people of the state. He explained that he remained committed to protecting the rights and welfare of workers of the state as he promised in his election campaign.
But in his response, Alao-Akala rejected Ajimobi’s request for a stop in the implementation of the minimum wage. In a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Dotun Oyelade, the former governor regretted his inability to accede to the request under any circumstance, saying that the promise to pay the minimum wage, which he voluntarily made on March 29, 2011, a clear 29 days before the governorship election, had become a covenant between him and the workers. Alao-Akala took exception to the description of his action as suspicious and controversial saying that he gave the promise convinced that he would be the one to implement it.
“What kind of leader will I be if I have to renege on a promise I made to my people? I wish to leave behind a legacy of policy consistency,” he said. He disagreed with Ajimobi that it was morally wrong for him to initiate a project that he would not implement. He said that while it is morally and legally correct for him to effect the minimum wage, governance is a continuum and its entity remains potent until the last admissible date.
Alao-Akala recalled that former Governor Lam Adesina sealed a N1.8bn contract for an International Market and water projects in the dying days of his administration, while Senator Rashidi Ladoja increased workers’ salaries and allowances a few days before his departure. “The workers in Oyo State will enjoy minimum wage of N18,000 from May 1, 2011 and it is their right to reject the offer,” he said.
So that singular step of the immediate past administration set the stage for a confrontation between the Ajimobi administration and the state workforce. Less than three weeks in office, his administration has received a notice of strike from the state workers. But for a last minute change of mind, the industrial action would have commenced on Monday.
The position of the governor has remained that while his government wishes to pay the new minimum wage, he is constrained by several factors which include the fact that the new wage bill exceeds the total monthly revenue of the state. Ajimobi said the new minimum wage translates to N4.4bn monthly, while the total revenue of the state including Federal Allocation and Internally Generated Revenue is N4.2bn. The implication, he added, is that his government would be borrowing N200m monthly to enable it to pay workers’ salaries. He said apart from borrowing N200m monthly to pay workers’ salaries, his government would also find it difficult to actualise all the lofty programmes which he swore to provide for the people of the state.
Ajimobi has taken several steps to make the workers in the state see reason. He has held consultative meetings with their leaders. He has granted press interviews and he has placed advertisements in national newspapers. He has even sought the support of leading traditional rulers and leaders of thought in the state to prevail on the workers to sheathe their swords and allow the new government to sort itself out. The state House of Assembly also at its inaugural sitting on Friday appealed passionately to the workers to allow peace to reign.
While acknowledging that workers in Oyo State were among the worst-paid salary-earners in the South West, Ajimobi said that with the position of the state’s finance, he could only offer to bring their salaries at par with comparable states, beginning with Ekiti State. “If the Ekiti State salary model is adopted, the new salary will increase workers’ wages by between 45 and 100 percent, push up the wage bill by N800m per month and push the wage bill to N3.7bn,” he said.
This offer of course did not go well with the state workers who said they would accept nothing below the minimum wage. At a congress on Saturday, Olanrewaju managed to convince his followers on the need to allow for more consultation. He said it would be counter-productive if the workers went on strike while still awaiting the payment of their May salary.
He assured them that the leadership of the congress would not rest on its oars until the government pays the outstanding salary for the month of May while negotiation would continue on the contentious minimum wage.
This, of course, is not a good time for the governor. From the figure he has released, it is glaring that the state’s finances cannot accommodate the new minimum wage. The ever-militant NLC members will not hear of that. Ajimobi’s administration is too young to be confronted with a labour strike. Who then will blink first?
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