Comrade Bayo Titilola-Sodo is the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Oyo State; he is also the outgoing President, Oyo State Chapter of the National Union of Local Government Workers (NULGE).
In this chat with KUNLE GAZALI, Comrade Titilola-Sodo speaks about the present government’s approach to workers, pensioners’ welfare and why Governor Seyi Makinde should conduct investigation into the N5.5 billion workers’ wage bill. Excerpt:
As the Chairman of the Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Labour (NLC), what is the situation of things as far as the implementation of N30,000 minimum wage is concerned?
I don’t think the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress is the proper place to ask for an update of the situation of the N30,000 minimum wage, but at least we all heard that the negotiation of the resultant adjustment in other great levels, if the level one is 30,000 there is bound to be adjustment in the other higher levels of payment, but the negotiations of the adjustment have been deadlocked, what the government is offering, workers are not ready to take. That is the situation about that for now, it is not yet our business at the state level – negotiations up there must be concluded for them to draw a team that will be sent down to our state for implementation.
After your emergence as NLC boss in Oyo State, what are the challenges you met on ground and how far have you gone in tackling them?
Thank you very much, as the time we assumed office in April 25, 2019 we had myriads of problems on the ground, we had salary arrears at the primary school sector, permanently one month behind, we had salary arrears at the local government with Lagelu leading the pack at seven months, we had numerous pension arrears from primary school teachers and local government workers and a host of others which should have been tackled before the expiration of the tenure of the last government. But since May 29, in the first week of June the new governor paid everyone full salary, not in percentages, the pensioners were fully paid for the first time in about five years, that is their full pension in one month not a fraction of it, teachers were paid, civil servants were paid, those in the tertiary institutions owned by our state were paid too as well as the local government, a full month paid for everyone. In the following month which was end of June, everyone was paid on the 25th, every worker in the state, every sector started receiving the alert on the 25th of June and that seems to us like good days are back again because the last time we had that kind of thing was probably during the time of Ladoja/Akala. So, giving that scenario we can say it is not yet uhuru, but we can see a rare of positive light.
It may interest you to now, let me add that one, that the issue of the arrears of teachers that we had been crying for- after everyone had got their pay for the last month the following week we contacted the new government about the matter of the primary school teachers, and I am confirming to you today as I sit here that primary school teachers have now been paid up to date. Their June salary has been paid, therefore, they not being owed any salary, even their 2018 leave bonus has been paid in full, so no one is owing any primary school teacher a dime in this state as we speak. So, for that one we commend the governor too but then we remain vigilant because the litmus test will be the implementation of the minimum wage.
Based on the negotiations between the government and the union, do you foresee the state government implementing the N30,000 minimum wage?
Our responsibility is to negotiate with the state government and the company operating in this state on behalf of our members, who are their workers, but for now there is nothing to negotiate yet, we don’t believe that we should jump the gun by preempting what will come and that is why the majority of the workers of Oyo State disagreed with certain labour leaders who decided to hold negotiations with the past government on minimum wage. How do you negotiate on something which is not yet decided? What is the promise predicated upon? It is the table that will emerge which has not yet emerged, then how could you be negotiating with somebody in April or May for a table that has still not emerged in July?. So, we have agreed not to preempt anything, when we get to that bridge we shall cross it, when the adjustment table comes out showing who should get what and should the government now decide not to follow the table or in their magnanimity decide to pay more, they may now invite us that how much do you want us to pay you to add to the table we have in our hands.
Do you wish to discuss the programmes you have for the workers in Oyo State?
The programmes I have for the workers in Oyo State – and why I believe they overwhelmingly supported me for this office was that they know that their collective fate is in safe hands. That I will do anything, my team will stand up and sacrifice anything in accordance to the law to ensure that their welfare is met and I will not allow anyone to shortchange them, and that trust I promise by the grace of God is not reposed in wrong place. Labour leadership is about struggle and when it is time to engage in struggle, they will not be disappointed.
Governor Seyi Makinde in an interview to mark his one month in office said that presently the state’s allocation from federal government is N4.5 billion, Internally Generated Revenue is about N1.5 billion, while the wage bill is N5.5 billion, what effort is the labour union and workers making to improve on the state’s IGR to meet up with the wage bill and other responsibilities?
Our own is to discharge our duties diligently, you don’t take up the responsibility that is not officially yours – remember we are workers; we work on directive and instruction. For instance, the immediate past government in our agreement in 2016 mandated that labour would be involved in the generation of revenue to the state so as to enhance our revenue base to increase the independent revenue of the state and all that, but when it was time for its implementation, they started dodging, they didn’t want us to be a part of it and therefore, we believed that they are liars because what they have been bandying about was false, that was why they could not actualize the agreement. The agreement was that labour union come and see how you can help us to plug, to expand the revenue net and we went there like three times to start this, they started other things, they said we should put that aside and talk about something else. We believed that was all in rues, and if it is the same figure of that former government that Governor Seyi Makinde is now still talking about we will give him benefit of doubt that he has not investigated that area, because we believe that by the time he does that the figure will not be the N1.5 billion any longer. As we also believe that the wage bill of Oyo State cannot be N5.5 billion, someone is not giving the governor a right picture and we are ready to investigate that matter with the government provided they are ready to cooperate with us to do that. The wage bill of Oyo State can not be N5.5 billion; we don’t believe the wage bill of Oyo State should be higher than N3.7 billion. Remember that the immediate past government claimed the bill to be N5.2 billion from 2012 until he went away, when he asked people who were sacked, when he said that their case was to be reviewed 1, 947 people to put down their names, so, those people were not earning anything that the wage bill remains at N5.2 billion…so, what was it that increased it to N5.5 billion?. So, to us until we look at the books together, that one, we don’t believe. We are not calling the former governor a liar, all we are saying is that some people who put the books together to report to him – if that is what they give him lied to him.
About the sacked workers, what is the government doing now about their case?
That is it, I don’t want to sound like a megaphone to the governor, but I can assure you that on July 12, 2019, I was actually in my office as a civil servant in Oyo State when I was called by a top government official, in fact a permanent secretary that governor has approved that their case should be reviewed and labour should bring a representative to be among the committee and we nominated a comrade.
About NULGE’s forthcoming election, what is the situation as an outgoing president?
One funny thing about the election is that it is not our job, it is the responsibility of the administrators. We are politicians in the union and how my term is about to expire, so the issue of the election is for the electoral body, it is the job of the administrators together with the national secretariat to organize the election. Ours is to prepare our handing over note and hand over to whoever wins after holding the election.
