BY AKINROPO OLUFEMI
” The problem with me is that I am fifty or one hundred years ahead of my time. My speed is very fast. Some ministers have had to drop out of my government because they could not keep up – *Idi Amin Dada* “.
I did a little research few days ago. It was more of a non-pictorial hypothesis. Whilst I was trying to gather my facts and figures, datas, and verifiable stats, all of which I intended to use for a superior argument in today’s Editorial, I did realize that Federal workers in Nigeria are presently the most afflicted and persecuted since Tinubu’s administration came on board on May 29, 2023. Infact, when compared to okada riders, agrarians, drivers, beer parlour entrepreneurs, market women selling pepper and okro in the majority of Nigeria’s metropolitan cities, etc, I discovered that Federal workers are presently worse than slaves as the workers in the aforementioned categories would gladly order many (Federal workers) for dinner without blinking twice. Such is the level of poverty, hardship, suffering, etc, all of which have become daily oddities and also synonymous to an average Federal worker in various ministries and parastatals. Truth be told, when compared to their contemporaries in various “states” and even in the private sectors, Federal workers have been denigrated beyond imagining by the Federal government. They’ve been ridiculed to a point whereby over 80 percent could barely feed themselves, let alone cater for other mandatory responsibilities, many of which aren’t negotiable and needed for ultimate survival.
Akinropo
I dare to say unequivocally, that, Federal workers appear to be the worst recipient of the current inflation ravaging the economy like a rapacious conflagration ready to send them to holocaust by annihilating their spirits, souls and bodies, and contemporaneously. It’s hell on earth for over 98 percent of them as many are languishing in excruciating pain and wallowing in poverty, and without any hope of emancipation, at least not soonest.
In my research, I realized Nigeria has around 1.8 million Federal workers across various institutions, ministries and parastatals. Of the 1.8 million, more than 1.75 million are presently below level 15 or its equivalent. By that, it means, less than 50,000 are principal officers, and are the ones enjoying the juicy paraphernalia of offices – by the virtue of their positions. Those 50,000 superintendents have unrestrained access to official vehicles, official apartments, humongous allowances, mammoth DTAs, et al. Some of them even have a plethora of security architectures always accompanying them to offices with many domiciled at their homes, many of which are edifices only millionaires could afford.
Verily speaking, if presidential election were to be conducted today, unless some federal workers want to consider other affiliations (like tribe and religion), Tinubu wouldn’t get votes outside those 50,000 senior officers. Barring those 50,000, any other Federal worker who isn’t complaining, not gnashing his/her teeth everyday, not having sleepless nights on how to sort basic needs, is either embezzling public funds or probably into another business entirely to augment his/her meagre income .
Since May 29, 2023, the agonizing trauma of Federal workers had since been tripled. The removal of fuel subsidy and devaluation of naira were indices which would necessitate the prices of basic needs to skyrocket to over 300 percent. Initially, when NLC and TUC protested, a promise of 35k monthly as wage award for Federal workers to cushion the harrowing effects of inflation before a new minimum wage would materialize was overly aggrandized. Till date, while virtually all the governors in the entire 36 states have paid their employees their wage awards, the Federal government is still owing five(5) months arrears. Despite knowing no Federal worker could cope with such crucifixions, the Federal government wouldn’t care. What’s the justification? How could you lead your own people to the wilderness with a promise of bringing water to them afterwards. Out of trust, they believed you. Only for them to be trapped on getting there, and after witnessing months of dehydration, they started to dessicate. Some eventually died as a result of terminal dehydration. After a lot of outcries, just last week, FG began to pay the arrears of the wage awards. It promises to pay for the next five (5) consecutive months. But, what about the workers who had died avoidable death of disenfranchisement when they needed it most? Would the payment bring them back to life or would it provide succor to their respective families?.
As if that was not enough. A lot of mendacious gimmicks were encapsulated during the process that birthed the new minimum wage. After ensuring the duo of NLC and TUC were either compromised or crumbled as the case might be, the road was clear for FG to solely determine and impose the amount it wanted. Negotiation was no longer an option as the president of NLC, Joe Ajaero, had suddenly become tight-lipped. After months of protracted shenanigans packaged for Nigerian workers in the form of negotiation, 70k was eventually adopted. It was the beginning of the suffering of Nigerian workers, but more particularly, Federal worker.
It was expected that a meaningful and realistic consequential adjustment in salaries would be subsequently effected. Surprisingly, while virtually all the state governors have implemented the consequential adjustment, and most have started paying, the Federal government decided it was only going to add a flat rate of N40k to the salaries of every federal government worker regardless of the level and/or position. Is it not quite ridiculous knowing that, a professor in a university only gets 40k extra as consequential salary adjustment while a level 1 officer also is paid same amount?. Undoubtedly, it’s the greatest shock of the century. The bible has it that, ” when the end of the world is near, various signs and events will occur “. Irrefutably, this is one of the events the bible talks about. It’s not only comical ; it’s reprehensible.
It’s even more hilarious and highly preposterous when one considers the fact that, it is the same Federal government that is always coming out enthusiastically to order the governors and the organized private sectors to ensure they implement the consequential adjustment. The yorubas would say : ” ile la ti n ko eso re ode “. Meaning you have to be good at home before bequeathing outsiders the same humor. If you wouldn’t treat you own workers like human being ; it’s not within your prerogative to cast aspersions on how others treat theirs. The Federal government should know it’s saddled with an ultimate responsibility to live by example, and it starts by exhibiting responsible and humane mannerisms ; not soliloquizing incoherently on social media and ordering others indiscriminately via verbal artifices. You can only give in abundance what you have. The Federal government must be told it’s a king. A king cannot continue to flog his own children at the market square, yet continue to lecture the elders and the chiefs on how to pamper their own children at home.
As it stands, Federal workers across Nigeria are the least paid. As appalling as it might sound, workers who are working under state governments are earning far more than their counterparts in the Federal institutions and ministries. It’s a distressing fact an average Federal worker is now compelled to live it. With all the inflation, 500 percent increase in fuel price, everly-increasing rent, 300 percent increase in the prices of goods and services, 400 percent increase in the prices of some medications, 200 percent increase in kids’ school fees, etc, all that every Federal government worker gets in addition to his/her salary is just 40k – even for a professor and a permanent secretary. Where would they go from thence?. How would they survive?. How won’t majority of them that are men engage in various habits in order to survive and cater for their families?. Is it possible for some that are married women not to engage in promiscuity, particularly if their husbands are also struggling financially, or even dead?.
Surprisingly, while an average professor who is not a principal officer cannot afford to fuel his/her vehicle to work even for just 15 times in a month and often relies on public transportation, or going to work as a team in order for each of them to contribute money for fueling, Tinubu’s associates have already started planning for 2027 election. Instead of identifying the loopholes and the areas where the present administration can still improve on, Tinubu’s cohorts, many of whom would never tell him the truth, are busy salivating and jumping to the euphoria of 2027.
Just few days ago, those APC governors and other key stakeholders hurriedly adopted him (Tinubu) as the party’s candidate ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Sadly, they wouldn’t tell him the truth about how bitter over 95 percent Nigerians feel about the present economy. They wouldn’t him the truth that over 150 million Nigerians live on less than a dollar per day. They wouldn’t tell him how hundreds of people are murdered daily due to insecurity and kidnapping. They wouldn’t tell him how Nigerian roads have become death traps and how hundreds meet their untimely death daily. They wouldn’t tell him how over 80 percent Nigerians don’t have access to good healthcare services, and more than 100 million people cannot afford to purchase common augmentin (25k for the original brand) should they have typhoid. They wouldn’t tell him that more than 150 million Nigerians don’t have access to pipe-borne water. They wouldn’t tell him that over 180 million Nigerians don’t have electricity for just six (6) hours daily. They wouldn’t tell him that Nigeria produces over 1 million graduates yearly, but the unemployment rate is about 5 percent as of 2025. The question is : “why would they tell him the truth?”. Afterall, none of them alongside their families is bedevilled with the earlier mentioned catastrophes. It’s a pity.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tinubu doesn’t even know that every Federal worker is given just N40k extra as new salary after the new minimum wage was implemented. Those governors and other APC loyalists wouldn’t tell them, and unlike when they hurriedly summoned a meeting to declare him as the sole candidate of the party for 2027 general election, they wouldn’t amalgamate together to tell him to review the salaries of federal workers with immediate effects. NLC and TUC have compromised, and right now, Federal workers are just on their own. But, if Tinubu would watch them and continue to allow them suffer when they needed him most, should he expect them (Federal workers) to turn up for him in 2027 when he also would need them most? One good turn deserves another. Many Nigerians who are dependent on those 1.8 million Federal workers are also watching while feeling exactly the same heat. Sadly, Tinubu and his associates do not know that, more than 70 percent of those 1.8 million Federal workers are bread winners of their families and have dependants, many of whom they’ve not been able to cater for since May 29, 2023. Come 2027, it would be a tit for tat, and all of them might amalgamate together and revolt against him (Tinubu) because none of them would want to experience the same calamity for another four (4) years. A father who is a Federal worker, and with 5 children in the University, doesn’t need to tell his children the presidential candidate to vote for in 2027 before they know. It is assumed those children have eyes, and they could see how miserably their father had been living since May 29, 2023 – a condition which must have taken a negative narrative on their studies as well.
But, would any of those governors adopting Tinubu as the party’s candidate in 2027 tell him such basic truth he probably doesn’t want to hear? Instead of telling him he still has two(2) years to fix the obvious anomalies, they’ll rather prefer to be sponsoring fake bloggers to be cursing Peter obi, and also denigrating his alliance with Atiku Abubakar, Aregbesola, El Rufai, etc. They know those are the things Tinubu loves to hear and happy to read in newspapers. None would tell him the reality on ground, and how to fix issues that are fundamental and pertinent for the survival of Nigerians. Unfortunately, he might never know the truth soonest, at least not before 2027 elections.
” When a man is denied the right to live a life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw – Nelson Mandela “. Haven’t Federal workers across Nigeria been denied the life they’ve always wanted?. Haven’t they been disenfranchised by being forced to live like a low lifer and condemned to misery?. Aren’t they destitute, and also living impoverished lives like beggars?. Aren’t they poverty-stricken and impecunious like never witnessed before?.
As it stands, Federal workers have no one to defend them ; they are bleeding profusely. But, come 2027, would they follow the same path of sorrow, tears and pain?. If they can’t become an outlaw through crises due to their “conditions of service”, wouldn’t they amalgamate together and act as a rebel in 2027 and vote against the man who put them in this dire situation? Or, would any “condition of service” enforce them to vote for an administration which had brought them nothing but pain and misery?.
Wait!! Does Tinubu even needs Federal workers at all to win in 2027?. Obviously, he knows other ways to win ; not with the support of Federal workers. The state governors know they can never have a second term without their employees. That’s why no governor will risk bullying his workers during his first term in office. That’s why virtually all the governors have implemented the consequential adjustment. Even if any of them dare his workers during his second term in office, his annointed candidate by the time he’s leaving might be at the receiving end at the polls. But, for Tinubu? He doesn’t need Federal workers. He is living fifty or hundred years ahead of his time. His speed is very fast. But, would he be able to move so fast in 2027 without the support of Federal workers?. Only time will tell, and the same time is a healer of wounds (for Federal workers).
(Akinropo Olufemi writes from Ibadan. He’s a writer and poet)
