 The Nigerian Labour Congress has debunked speculations that it might back down on its proposed industrial action slated Wednesday nationwide. It said the only reason it would shelve this strike is when the federal government of Nigeria, the National Petroleum Corporation Limited, and NNPCL will do the needful by returning to status quo on the fuel subsidy removal. NNPCL declared the position in a statement by Benson Oopa, head of the information and public affairs on Sunday. Now we describe the report as laughable and desperate attempt by enemies of the people to polarise the Nigerian Labour Congress along ethnic or religious lines on an issue with the national spread. Recall that the President, Balatyn Ibu, had during his inaugural speech declared that the era of subsidy for petroleum products was gone, a development that had had a rippling effect on Nigeria's polity since May 29, 2023. Joining us to discuss the legalities around this proposed strike action is Professor Richard Wokochah. He is a Professor of Law of River State University in Pothaqad, and of course, still joining us is Baisa Gideg Ulugu. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Yes, I'll start with you, Professor Wokochah. Minister Wokochah had given us a brief background, but then there is, of course, an order now that is, one way or the other, going to make the NLC shelve this industrial action. And there have been people who are saying that if they do go on this strike, it would be illegal. Talk to us about it. Hello. Yes, I can hear you. Go ahead. Okay, okay. I just got to the end of data information that there has been a ruling to that effect. And if there is a ruling, then that would be a different thing. But as to timing, there may also be the issue of whether sufficient notice has been given under the law before such strike is declared. Remember that this is an entirely new issue on the subsidy. It's not like a pending strike or a strike that has been under or suspended in which case it can be new at some point. So I think those may be the issues playing around the issue of illegality concerning the strike. Now, let's look at some of the demands of Labour. Labour is talking about government returning to status quo on the issue of fuel subsidy. The TUC, as we speak, are still in meeting with the federal government trying to come to some agreement of sorts. We do not know where that's headed. But then, of course, let's not forget about the fact that they're still dealing with the issue of minimum wage. And in today's Nigerian, I'm talking about today, the minimum wage of the average Nigerian government worker cannot buy them fuel for more than two days. So if we're reviewing the minimum wage, what exactly are we reviewing it to? And can government afford to pay minimum wage even for the average person who's not necessarily working for government? But with the situation we have on our hand, it's no longer a question of whether we show the new and whether government can pay. There is nowhere you can be talking of the drastic effect of the removal of subsidy as the situation stands now. And you are conceiving at all by any stretch of imagination that things can stay the way they were with respect to minimum wage. That certainly will not work. So we must come to realisation that governments must be able to pay. And we must talk about a reasonable minimum wage now, even beyond what we were talking about before. Because you're no longer dealing with the situation where the cost of living is at the point where $30,000 per month was something considerable, which what we are dealing with now, the effect of removal of subsidy and its usual global effect on the market place, what you are looking at now is one that $30,000 will not be able to take the average worker to work even for two weeks. So we must deal with the issue of increasing minimum wage to a reasonable amount that will be. Be fath yw yw'r gwaith cyntaf? I think that you're frozen. Let me just quickly toss to Baisar logo. You'll be able to at least allow the worker to come to work. Okay, let me go to Baisar logo. Baisar logo, what would be a reasonable minimum wage in today's Nigeria, especially for government workers? Because of course companies also have their work cut out for them. Literally everybody has their plate full, whether the person who's running a private business, the tiny shop owner, the tiny business owner, the barber, the salonist, everyone who has to buy fuel to fuel their business to power their businesses. And let's not also forget we have a very epileptic power supply in this country. So again, these are some of the things that you need to consider when you want to talk about the best amount to consider as minimum wage. So on the fuel subsidy removal and of course the plan strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress, I'm still being joined by Professor Richard Wokochar and Gide O'Logo. Professor Wokochar, I was asking a question, what would be the best amount to consider as minimum wage and considering some of the things that I asked earlier on the questions about the epileptic power supply, the fact that small businesses are powered by also petrol. What would be the amount that anyone would take home that would be able to take them home in this instance? Well, I am afraid that we cannot be talking about anything less than 70,000 naira now for minimum wage. Even 70,000 naira is on the hope that government is going to have some... Professor Wokochar, we had lost you for a few seconds. We could barely hear you. I see, but I can hear you clearly from my end. All right, go ahead again. We take that response again. Yeah, I was saying that we cannot be talking of anything less than 70,000 naira now. We are going far beyond the stage where 50,000 was a consideration. With what we have on our hand now, even the 70,000 is on the ground that we are hopeful that with what government we save from the subsidy removal that they will be able to provide palliatives that will push in some of the effects on the marketplace and on the average worker. I keep asking what these palliatives are and nobody is able to give me a proper answer. What palliatives can the government of the day provide for us in the space of a month or two because until those palliatives are put in place, the average Nigerian is going to keep suffering and squeezing in the interim. So what are these palliatives that you provide? I agree completely. There has been talks about some kind of provision relating to transport. So if you have, definitely that will not cover our routes, but if you have a transport system that has something for workers that workers can attend with the evidence of being workers that they can attend or taxpayers can attend sharing evidence of taxpayers for instance, something that can take them to work at less than what the market value will be at the moment. That will be a palliative that will be useful to ensuring that the worker can cope with the amount that is eventually paid. Assuming we are working with 70,000 Naira because the cost of transport is going to increase is going to deal with the cost of buying things in the market. But I think that as the government settles down, they should be able to also go into negotiation or discussion with those who are involved to see that the increase in price is not done at an unreasonable level, but at a level that will reflect the reality of the effect of change in the price of petrol. We've had this in the past where those efforts were made and some of those things were brought down to a reasonable level. So this is what will need to be done for whatever is eventually agreed on as minimum wage to be able to have a positive effect on the worker, the average worker. But we also have to consider that this is the more reason why Labour must go into discussion and negotiation with the government. They must be able to agree on palliatives that make sense and until they come to that satisfactory agreement, I think Labour will have to hold their gun. It is absolutely necessary that Labour represents the people, the average citizen of Nigeria, and goes into discussion to ensure that they come up with something reasonable. Otherwise, we will just be hearing palliatives and we will have no hold or no grip on the exact thing we are talking about. Baisa Lago, you're back. Let me ask quickly before we wrap things up here. What do you think employers of Labour will have to deal with now? Because going forward, a lot of people are unable to make it to work, some can afford it, some cannot afford it, and this is just the beginning of the month. Before the month goes into, divides into half, maybe their salaries are all gone. What do you think that these employers of Labour should be considering now to ameliorate the sufferings of their workers? Do we see job cuts happening? What should be the considerations? Are they going to be considering work from home three days? I mean, I think the choir state government has implemented a three-day working week and then of course, so it means that you work for three days and then take two days off and work from home. Is this something that we can explore nationwide? Wonderful. I think our experience during the COVID-19 lockdown comes to be here. You have to create the hybrid working template concerning your HR. Because like I was saying the other time, the minimum wage is just a tiny aspect of the matrix that we need to manage in this crisis because the moment you even increase the minimum wage, let's assume you even have the money to increase it. The market woman who is not in the formal sector also wants to increase her own take from the increased minimum wage and already we have not been able to tame the foreign exchange flights. So we have several issues. In fact, as of today, our country has the highest rate of aviation funds that has talked in the nation. So and again, one big palliative measure indirectly that can help us right now solve our problems going forward is to cut down on the cost of government. I thought of it. If for instance somebody who was filling his car with 10,000 Naira needs 30,000 Naira to fill it, how much does the minister, the federal minister, who used to fill his car with 75,000 Naira need to fill those vehicles, all those convoys that they fly around. So it's going to be an engagement that will involve not just the citizens alone tightening their belts until their waste disappear, but the government also cutting down on wastages, you see. And someone already suggested having a single camera legislative body at the national level. Why do we have a bicameral legislature? The House of Senate has 109 senators. And you can imagine how much we need to maintain just one senator. The House of Representatives has 360 representatives. So these are issues. Then we begin to look at clamping down on the oil teams. Section 15, subsection 5 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as a mandate says that the government shall abolish corrupt practices and abuse of oil. So how do we deal with these oil teams? That is stop stealing our oil. How do we revamp our refineries? The GMD of NNPC Limited has promised that one of the refineries should come upstream by next year, another by 2025. So how do we stop exporting our crude oil and importing the part of the finished products back to the country? And again, how do we stop the foreign countries, that feed sadly and wickedly on our resources in the nation? Right now they have been forced to adjust their own pump price over there too because smoglers are busy smogging their produce. So we need a holistic governance approach to this. The matters are numerous, but like those who are arguing that this is not the right time. I think according to the Chinese magazine, the best time to have planted the tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. So I wish the government and the NLC and the TUC and all of them the wisdom to really negotiate bringing Nigeria out of the wood. I mean, it's so sad where we are right now. We cannot continue to pay lip service to our crisis. Well, we can just but hope that the right things will be done, but I want to say thank you. Professor Richard Wokacha is a professor of law at the River Stage University in Port Hackett, and Gido Logo is a legal practitioner. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for speaking with us on this. Thank you. God bless Nigeria. Thank you. Well, that's it on the show tonight. We'll be back tomorrow talking for development. Don't forget you can, of course, play catch up on all our previous episodes on Plus Politics. Just go to Plus TV Africa on our YouTube page. Like, subscribe and follow all our programmes. I'm Mary Annacol and have a good evening.