US embassy cable - 03LAGOS1900

UNCLAS LAGOS 001900 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
USDOL WASHDC FOR ROBERT YOUNG 
 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: GON AGREES TO INCREASE CIVIL SERVICE 
SALARIES 
 
 
1.  On Friday, September 5, Laboff spoke to Chris Uyot, the 
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Head of Information and Public 
Affairs, who confirmed that the GON agreed to implement 
sliding scale wage increases for all federal civil servants 
retroactive to July 1, 2003.  While both sides are working 
out specific details, Uyot explained that the lowest paid 
civil servants would receive a 12.5 percent increase while 
employees at the top of the scale would receive four 
percent.  NLC President Adams Oshiomhole told Laboff that 
the sides would have agreed to the sliding scale proposal 
sooner but negotiators, who are at the top of the pay scale, 
would not consider a proposal that would reduce their salary 
increase by 8.5 percent. 
 
 
2.  The Trade Union Congress (TUC), comprised of senior 
staff and managers, would like to prevent the agreement from 
being implemented because its members would not receive the 
full 12.5 percent increase.  Biodun Ogunade, TUC's Head of 
Information, claims that the negotiation between GON and NLC 
"was done in a deceitful, untransparent and undemocratic 
manner as senior staff in the public sector were not 
represented."  The NLC counters that TUC cannot now claim it 
was deceived because the government's negotiators were also 
TUC senior staff members. (Comment. TUC was not formally 
represented at the negotiations because it is not a GON- 
recognized trade union center.  TUC members were, however, 
present and participating during the negotiations and aware 
of the impact of the proposed sliding scale on themselves 
and their colleagues.  End comment.) 
 
 
3.  Although it appears that the GON and its employees may 
have found an affordable common ground, state officials are 
concerned that their civil servants will demand a similar 
increase.  Some states are already as much as one year 
behind in paying salaries and pensions to employees.  While 
state governments have intensified their efforts to resolve 
salary and pension disputes, the majority of states do not 
have the financial resources to support salary increases. 
Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu said his government is not 
in a position to pay the 12.5 percent wage hike and 
expressed concern that, if the federal increase is 
implemented, state civil servants "will never take `no' for 
an answer."  He warned that the inability to pay higher 
wages at the state level would eventually lead to industrial 
actions, including strikes. 
 
 
Hinson-Jones