“Sure to be judged is the king
Who builds his palace using injustice,
And treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms.
He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.”
-Jeremiah 22:13 (NET Bible)
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A few years ago when I was a teenager I got a menial job as a sales rep in a business center. Yup! A business center, those days when it was trending and looked as if every house had one in front of its building. I gave my whole to the job, worked from Monday to Saturday, 8am to 9pm but every time the end of the month was approaching, I was overwhelmed with joy. The days when I...got to put my best to work, woke up very early and often without food until I got to work were like sowing seeds, which I always hope to reap at the end of the month. My salary was what I always look forward to which is the result of the seeds sown.
Just like a farmer goes about getting seeds to be planted, after planting he takes time to water the plant and waits patiently for the perfect time to harvest. Imagine, after the pain of gathering for planting, watering, in a few months when the farmer expects fruits, what he sees are weeds and dead crops. That is exactly what our so called leaders who refuse to pay salary are doing to the Nigerian labor force. It is so painful that the government workers have turned to street beggars.
A few persons would always claim that job satisfaction and a sense of purpose drive their productivity, I can boldly tell anyone that salary also plays a distinct role in how well they perform. There are a number of factors that aid job retention. They are employee morale, job satisfaction and S.A.L.A.R.Y. Read my lips, S.A.L.A.R.Y. Nonpayment of salary encourages corruption. People are forced to seek unlawful means to meet their financial and family obligations. Again, when you don’t pay workers, most of them stop going to work; later you would still have to pay them for those days they didn’t go to work. That doesn’t make sense at all. At the end, you stab yourself while trying to hurt them.
As one of my mentors would put it, ‘it is a wicked man that will not pay his workers salary after working for him’. It is an evil act when you owe your workers. Do you know what you have done to them? You steal their happiness, because a lot of them depend on their pay to survive. It is so painful that some of our governors are not just owing for one month, but two, three, four, five, six and seven months. Yet, they travel out of the country to spend billions of dollars on unnecessary things, buy private jets, throw exuberant parties and buy exotic cars for their wives and children. You heard about a certain governor’s wives having twenty two cars in their custody? The common practice with these government people is lodging workers’ salaries in fixed deposit accounts to yield interests. They will keep telling the suffering workers that there is no money. Honestly, I’m so sure that even our supreme being will never be happy with such evil action. As a government, salary should be top priority. A laborer deserves his wages!!!
I wonder why the governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola should describe Murray Bruce’s gesture as a mockery of Nigerian workers by donating his wardrobe allowance to unpaid workers in Osun state. Rather, he should applaud the Senator for his kind gestures. It takes a kind and sensible leader to do that. Ogbeni is just one out of twenty governors who refuse to pay their workers’ wages. However it should not be seen as a political move to ridicule All Progressive Congress in that state. I’m certain that if he had done the right thing, he will not be embarrassed. I trust his people, they will celebrate him. After all, is it not the same people that voted him into power hoping he will be responsive to their plight?
No state governor can even justify why wages are not paid. They have all received monthly allocation till date. Moreover, these state governors have security votes of at least one billion naira each, plus other allowances; yet, they still dip their filthy hands into state treasury. This whole issue is absolutely uncalled for and degenerating. There is this saying that ‘charity begins at home’, if truly, we want change as we have really clamored the state governors have a big role to play.
I feel strongly that there should be a drastic approach to resolving this issue. Let the governors, members of the House of Representative, chairmen, senators and every political office holder use their allowances and security votes to balance some of the salaries for a start. That way they would begin to realize that they are servants of the people and not lords of the state. When they live only on their basic salary, they would appreciate the suffering their people go through to make a living. It will be fair for the federal government to begin to deduct the salaries of the state workers from source and pay the workers directly and use either twenty five percent (25%) or fifty percent (50%) of the state allocation to pay the current debts until it is all settled no matter how long it takes. Seriously, Nigeria’s underdevelopment is as a result of the state government’s inefficiency. If the state government were diligent and meticulous in their responsibilities, Nigeria would be a better nation today.
The present administration is faced with a huge challenge, Nigerians need to team up and lend their voices, because if we continue to treat corruption with diplomacy, this blessed nation will end in disarray. That’s not my prayer oh!! Let us demand a breakdown of government expenses and know why there is no money. I’ve always been HOPEFUL and strongly believe that we will fly again as a nation.
Godwin Okhawere, fondly called JP, is a Comedian/Event Host, an ardent publicist and actor; A resourceful specialist in Media and Public Relations, Social Work, Brand Development, Copy writing and Publicity. He is very passionate about building reputation capital for people, business and organization. He has featured in Mnet movies, ‘Roadside’ & ‘Finishing Strong’ and also featured in the television series ‘Tinsel’.
He anchors the monthly Creative Enterprise Session organized by the Creative Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (CEAN).
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