By Felix Khanoba
As Nigeria marked International Workers’ Day alongside nations worldwide, the Grassroots Center for Rights & Civic Orientation has urged swift and decisive steps to eliminate poverty and enhance the welfare of workers across the country.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Armsfree Ajanaku, on Thursday , the organization extended its solidarity and goodwill to workers in Nigeria and globally, applauding their contributions to national development.
The group emphasized the importance of fair compensation for workers, underscoring their pivotal role in economic growth.
“We make no mistake about the fact that the sweat and toil of workers builds the wealth of all nations. From teachers to civil servants, factory workers, doctors, nurses, policemen, journalists, traders, and artisans in the informal sector, the contribution of workers to economic and societal progress cannot be treated with levity or discountenanced by any serious country. It is therefore imperative that at the level of the state, society and the private sector, there is an effective movement for the just and fair compensation of workers. This effort will promote social justice, tackle poverty and enhance participation in the economy. It will address the current Nigerian situation where the needs of the majority are neglected, while the luxuries and ostentatious preferences of a minority elite takes a big chunk of public resources,” it said.
Highlighting the challenges facing workers, the statement cited the World Bank’s recent classification of Nigeria among resource-rich countries plagued by widespread poverty. It noted that the bank projects poverty levels to rise by 3.6 percentage points by 2027, warning of dire implications for workers’ livelihoods.
According to the group, “In the context of workers welfare, the situation in Nigeria is quite deplorable. As reflected in the recently released World Bank report, Nigeria falls in the category of countries where high rates of poverty are prevalent, despite the abundance of their resource wealth. The World Bank subsequently projected that poverty will increase by 3.6 percentage points by 2027. For Nigerian workers, this grime projection will worsen their already dire and precarious economic conditions. With the current food inflation, and the escalating prices of essential commodities, it is clear that the astronomical cost of living has outstripped every bit of the minimum wage increase approved after long drawn negotiation by the Nigerian government last year.
” It is clear that even before the approval of the current minimum wage of N70,000, the inflationary pressures driven by the cost of food and transportation, had already wiped it out. Realistically, there is no way an average worker with today’s economic realities can provide the basic necessities of food, shelter, clothing and the education of his or her children on such a meagre amount.”
The group also spotlighted the struggles of small and medium enterprises, warning that high operating costs were driving many out of business and deepening unemployment. It criticized government inaction, accusing political leaders of neglecting citizens’ welfare while focusing on partisan politics.
“The situation is similar for owners of small and medium businesses, which are supposed to be the engine room of economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction. The extremely high cost of doing business has led to the shuttering of many of these small and medium businesses, thereby worsening the unemployment crisis in the country. In the face of these challenges, government across all levels is failing to rise to the occasion. The plight of the people hardly features in the projections of the political elite. Citizens are being regaled with the dramas of defections, while governance has been abandoned and the people left to their fate. The country cannot continue on this rudderless path. Grassroots Center therefore calls for immediate short, medium and long-term programs to stamp out poverty, foster inclusive prosperity and address the deprivation and cries of workers.”
Calling for urgent reforms, the Grassroots Center aligned itself with labor unions demanding a review of the minimum wage to better reflect current economic realities. It advocated for comprehensive poverty alleviation programs, transparent governance, and collaborative policymaking to lift Nigerians out of hardship.
“Grassroots Center joins well-meaning and patriotic Labour Unions in demanding a review of the minimum wage to reflect the current dire economic situation. We similarly call for massive poverty-reduction programs which will match the scale of the deprivation in the land. This implies proper governance in health, education, agriculture and priority sectors, which will contribute to lifting the people out of poverty. These programs should be designed and implemented transparently and in close consultation with civil society, and monitored by the media. Only such level of openness and accountability will effectively address the economic plights of the poor, deprived and marginalized groups.
“Such interventions should learn from models used in countries where through deliberate policies, hundreds of millions were lifted out of poverty within years. This is not just the responsibility of the Federal Government; the States and Local Governments, many of which have refused to implement the current N70,000 minimum wage, also have a role to play. We also urge civil society and the media to strategically engage these issues in the context of deepening accountability of the government to the people,” the statement added.
