 Let's see the work fast on the plus TV Africa and right now we're going to look at the economic impact of fuel subsidy removal on wages and we're glad to have joining us right now. He is the MD page me network and communications. Welcome to the program sir. Thank you for having me. Okay. Let me borrow the words of 29th May. I'm not talking about the individual but the reigning words are from 29th of May. Subsidy is gone. Okay. So we're looking at like we saw one cartoon that I saw. There were three friends or four friends rather and every one of them was growing. Commodities were growing, transportation growing and salaries remain the same and that seems to be the issue right now. Fuel prices have gone up, transportation has gone up, food prices have gone up and everything else has gone up but the salaries are the same. Now fuel subsidy has been removed. Walk us through how you feel this will impact on the working class, the people who are employed by other people, not the businessmen that can add the credits or the increments to whatever the people who are going to buy from them will have to pay. So tell us how, what you envisage will be the situation with salary earners for instance? Well it is an interesting time for everyone living in Nigeria. I also would say that it's still a good job to inspect some people who are in dashboard because if you have to spend money back home it has to be some arrangements now. The news of course we have been hearing that the subsidy regime was going to end by the end of June. The last administration said so much about it. I think what we have not done as a people was to pay for this and there's no way you can pay for this because government has to be the one at the forefront in making these changes and preparing us for this period. It is really turning on a whole lot of people. This came at a period where people are just getting their salaries. What it means is that if you have a car and you are living on the 30,000 euro minimum wage once you, I mean you can buy two cars for the car. You may not have anything. If not you may not. You can't have any other thing because if you make another car now it's around 22,000 to 23,000. Some cars go to you as much as 25,000. So if you have an 30,000 euro what you have left is not enough to take care of the other needs for the month. And that will also affect on your purchasing power. It also affects how you get to look after your family, these two ways. You already are a family of men, are we men? So it's an interesting time. The impact is so enormous and what the government will not do if the remover is welcome back. All you said you want is that they do not prepare us for this period. And that's why you are here. Okay. Every sector of the economy is trying to profile some solutions to these problems of fuel subsidy removal. Some have advocated that salaries be raised to 200,000 naira. And some express concern that 30,000 naira there are some states that are not even able to pay, let alone 200,000 naira that they are advocating. What do you think would be the solution that will work for, especially the people who end wages, so that they can survive? Salary removal has to come in place. But from the side of the government, I understand with the demands of the TUC, I think the NSC also have the same demand. It's that they want to ensure that whatever is being put on the table or have demands from the labor unions, it's something that the federal and state governments can afford. Just like you have said, a lot of states are not even being able to implement the last adjustment in minimum wage as you speak. And that is to tell you that this case has broken. And if we also jack up on this implementing in salaries are called the aim, what's going to happen? And even when the government can conveniently deal with this, what is the fate of the private sector? They have the national model to pay salaries across the world like federal government has to go make money. Like I said, it's an interesting thing. And so a lot of things need to come in place. As the government is taking to a salaried agreement, which is very, very mutual at this period, they should also be looking at how to make the business environment for private sector not friendly so that they can end their costs. For example, if power is regular, most companies can do without alternative by a power supply, they can't get public power supply to do their businesses. It will be doing the right cost anyway. If the government is also looking at the parts of the day for some of these private companies, it will also mean that they will have some other areas to bring this up from and please salaried for the workers so that they will be able to cope in this trying time. Again, it's also the fact that the private sector is looking at how to reduce the number of working days for their staff. And to also maybe adopt a form of working condition where you go to work maybe twice in a week and work from home and delight. So these are options that public sector can look at and help to do this in church as we go forward in the sense of people who are injured. So let's take for instance, the problem I have with going to work only a few days, let's take for instance the police. Nigeria is underpoliced so much so that we have at least 400 to 500 people to one policeman which is not very good for us. And then policemen also go to the market, they also take transport to the market, they incur some of them and all that. So if you say let's say three days out of a week if you are supposed to go five days to work, a policeman stays home two days or three days because of the fuel subsidy removal, how will that impact on the general populace in terms of protection and all that? It will mean that the policemen... Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, it will mean that not only will we... Don't worry, you have the idea. So answer me, what do you think that will mean to us? I don't know if Sherwin can say that. Okay, go. When I mentioned that I have been mentored, I wasn't really saying that it is applicable to all struggle professionals. There are some, like for the medical, for the security, and some other places, areas like internal schools, you cannot say that you have to come and work for everyone because for those that can work, these are areas that I believe the critical tip can be given for the government to be able to look and ensure in which area which profession can we push to decide which profession and not and what can we do for those that can and for those that cannot? We seem to have lots all the way from Sherwin. I'm sure he will rejoin us as soon as possible when we're talking about the impact of your subsidy removal on wages. We know what the wages in Nigeria are, but we know even what the minimum wage is and what the challenges have been like from all the states across the states. Some states are not even able to pay 30,000 as minimum wage. Now, TUC is asking for 200,000 Naira as minimum wage, which is fair if you consider what is being paid in some other countries as minimum wage and if you say 200,000, should be paid. Who should pay who? That's the question. Is it the federal government paying its staff or every staff or every worker in Nigeria will pay that as minimum wage? The states will pay 200,000 as minimum wage. Federal government will pay 200,000 as minimum wage. The private sector will pay 200,000 as minimum wage. Is that realizable? If the federal government and state governments can pay, can the federal government, if they pay this kind of money, will they still have money to run the organization that they are running? So if you have 50 staff and you're already struggling to pay them, sometimes the amount ends and they won't be able to pay. And then now the government comes to you and says you have to pay 200,000 as minimum wage. That is the law. What can they pay? Or will they lay off all their staff, 90% of their staff and have only 10% do the work of the other 90 that have been laid off? And if they lay off 90%, or even 50% of their staff so that they can have enough money to pay minimum wage to the rest that will be remaining, what happens to the people that will be laid off? The problem is hybrid headed and we do not understand if the way the federal government has gone is the way it should go. Because for a lot of people it shouldn't be a solution that will be targeted at some particular people. It should be a solution that everybody can enjoy. For instance, in the train service in Lagos State World Working you know that the policeman can take the train, the army man can take the train, the school teacher can take the train and whoever else is working anywhere else, we the media people, the journalists can take the train as well. So the solution for everybody is a universal kind of solution but to say the increasing minimum wage before you even say the minimum wage is increased the landlords already have the memo and they have increased their own. The people who are selling in the market already have the memo. They have increased their own and you find out that at the end of the day the 200,000 may not even be enough. Well, we have a dice situation here. We do not know. I do not know if Shaboon has rejoined us. Mr, who are Shaboon? Are you there? I am here. Yeah, very good. We lost you earlier at some point. That's why I was just talking on my own here. But I was wondering what are the solutions can we have apart from the fact that we need whether the subsidy was removed or not salaries should have been increased by now. The federal government actually said something about it that they intend to increase the salaries. We do not know if it was for federal workers only or it would have been for everybody else but they said they were going to increase it and so fittingly. Before they could even land with that statement today landlords increased their own salaries and some market women had heard it already and jacked up their prices. Now this one has come again this few subsidy removal and all that can't we find a solution that Nigeria will get to a point where you don't have to worry about anything you can pay your taxes as you want you can do your business as you want and then know that you have some kind of security education wise and every other aspect of your life. What are other solutions apart from increasing the salary of workers that you might prefer today? Yeah, I think even before the issue of subsidy removal one of the major issues that has resulted in the economy is the fact that the inflation rate has been really on the high side and as of the last statistic I think it was said that 62% of Nigerian population are bottom-dimensionally poor which means that this new government has its work cut out for I mean the government has to approach all these near the issues with different approaches and there is no excuse good enough the president himself has said that it is not to allow push for the debt to run for this post he applied for it and he's ready and we believe that between the nursery and the education base it will mean that we will be able to personalize different strategies economic, social, economic strategies all we can think of to combat these highlighted problems that we have in Nigeria are the major issues if businesses are able to go about their activities without having to think about alternative energy they can do the sense with low cost, low life cost it will mean that there will be more people to be employed which we will use unemployment rates again with the foreign exchange which has parallel markets if that is also combasted and the effects we are able to report and then get the effects and the official rates which is more for the it means business environment will begin to ease up for more people to come in for the university to come in and once for the university to start coming in it means that there is more prosperity for the country more employment rates and then more money has to be budgeted in fast-forwarding this country the fast-forwarding of the cities on the high side so many of these things have to be in place for us to begin to see that they are moving away from these two jobs to a better Nigeria and to be better for everyone and nobody will be able to complain again that the country is not here so I think the government must understand it's assignment in this regard and begin to work I guess you want to begin to learn and then that will be explained in the coming days okay we've been talking to the government please also talk to the people the salary earners, the wages earners people who might be affected by this how do you think they can cope with the situation now until things are put in place to make life better it also means that if we begin to look at our activities as it is wherever I am not needed wherever it's not really important for me to go and be embarked on that journey and if I need to I need to look at it and I also need to come down on my spendings people need to begin to look at that you don't need to this is not the period to spend it as you continue to like true money at parties and do all sorts of things it's a period where you want to really have your revenge and if you know that from this it's not that back then if you you both got children from your school your school was too high to it was very hard for them to get educated so all of these and of course people should not use this period to explore this 9 a.m. this is not the period to do it to make unethical profits and people said in the stations where for me I said exploiting so we shouldn't use this period to begin to exploit ourselves and let us all do good things because whatever you do at your own corner you have to do it and then it's a cycle so let us just have this believe that it is for you better tomorrow for all of us to be government to CCL to be government to CCL I believe in the coming days months we should begin to see the true dividends of this University of Sydney Thank you so much Mr. Uluwa Shegun for coming on the program and talking to us it's a pleasure to have you Thank you so much Thank you We're talking to a link with the MD PageME network and communication there on the in part of the fuel subsidy removal on the wages so we're going to take a short break and when we return we'll be looking at securing homes with technology stay with us