A former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has lamented that the present day Nigerian workers are poorer than those who worked for the country in the past.

Oshiomhole, a former Governor of Edo State, also decried the present N70,000 minimum wage, arguing that the celebrated wage when converted to dollars, is equivalent to only $42.

The former labour leader spoke at the National Institute of Security Studies, Abuja, during a distinguished personality lecture organised for members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 17.

Comparing the first minimum wage in the country under the administration of Shehu Shagari as President, he noted that the N125 minimum wage at that time was equivalent to $160.

The lawmaker, who spoke on the title of the lecture: “National Minimum Wage: Reward system and productivity in Africa”, said: “When minimum wage in Nigeria was established under President Shagari – I think around 1981 – it was around N125, which was about $160 a month.

“Today, with the fat increase – 100% increase that the labour achieved last year, which is now being implemented this month – according to our current exchange rate, is $42.

“So, if you divide N70,000 by N1,650, it gives you $42. So, the working people are much poorer now than we were so many years ago. So, this opportunity will depreciate, and that affects the quality of life and everything.”

He urged the Federal government and other states generating high revenues to pay workers more than the agreed N70,000 minimum wage.

The Senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly also called for the expansion of minimum wage law to domestic staff, among others, through the amendment of the law.

He said: “But again, if you look at the law in Nigeria, which I hope will be able to amend very soon, although the Federal government and the states have agreed on a minimum wage, for example, at N70,000, there are still people who are paying less than that.

“Even under the law, because it says you have to have about 25 to 50 employees minimum for that law to be applicable to a particular enterprise. But with the changing technology, a small ICT company employing 10 people can generate much turnover. So, using the number of employees was appropriate when the economy was more broad-driven not with ICT.”

Two Nigerian properties located in the United Kingdom are on the verge of being taken over by a Chinese investor following an order granting the investor the right to enforce a $70 million investment treaty award against Nigeria.

The investor – Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment – was granted final charging orders over two UK residential properties owned by the Nigerian government after the company also attached a £20 million debt relating to the high-profile P&ID case.

Reports said the Chinese firm secured the order on June 14 when Master Sullivan in the Commercial Court in London granted the orders in respect of two Liverpool properties estimated to be worth a combined £1.7 million.

According to the judge, the order was premised on the fact that the properties have been converted to commercial use outside Nigeria’s diplomatic or consular activities in the UK, stressing that enforcement of the order should prevail.

The case was a gritty legal battle between Zhongshan, represented before the court by Withers and barristers at 3VB, while Nigeria was represented by Squire Patton Boggs and a barrister at Atkin Chambers.

Reports said the underlying arbitration was in relation to a joint venture with Nigeria’s Ogun State to establish a free trade zone near Lagos in 2013. A Zhongshan subsidiary held a 60% stake in the project but Ogun terminated its participation three years later.

In 2021, a London-seated UNCITRAL tribunal chaired by Lord Neuberger including Matthew Gearing KC and Rotimi Oguneso (SAN) said Nigeria was guilty of expropriation and other breaches of the China-Nigeria bilateral investment treaty and ordered the country to to pay US$55.6 million plus interest and costs.

Nigeria in the same year put a challenge against the award in the Commercial Court on jurisdictional grounds. Nigeria’s position was that the arbitration clause in the BIT was invalid. But in later development, Nigeria withdrew the challenge before a hearing on Zhongshan’s application for security and security for costs was about to take place.

Mrs. Justice Cockerill in the same court granted Zhongshan an ex parte enforcement order in December 2021, but Nigeria did not file against this order within the 74-day deadline allowed by the law.
In July 2023, the Court of Appeal in London stopped Nigeria from bringing a late challenge to the enforcement order, stressing Cockerill’s provisional determination that state immunity did not apply had become final.

The investor reportedly got interim charging orders in June and August last year over the two properties in Liverpool, which are owned by the Nigerian government.
Nigeria’s efforts to dismiss these charging orders failed as Master Sullivan in her judgment, held that the properties are leased to residential tenants and that no “consular activities are actually taking place on the premises”.

She also dismissed Nigeria’s arguments that it had not been properly served with the interim charging order applications under the State Immunity Act and that Zhongshan had failed to give full and frank disclosure when seeking them.

Master Sullivan also dismissed Nigeria’s objection about parties bringing multiple enforcement action, saying that parties are “entitled to bring as many types of enforcement action as they see fit to recover their debt.” She noted that Nigeria had yet to pay any of the award and that the value of the properties represented a “small proportion of it”.

Timi Balogun of Squire Patton Boggs, counsel to Nigeria, said: “We respectfully disagree with the Master’s decision, which we believe somewhat brushes over complex public international law issues, including with respect to state immunity and the right of a foreign state’s High Commission to own and manage portfolios of fixed assets in England and Wales. We believe that such issues need to be weighed very carefully, and we intend to appeal this decision so that these complex and important issues can be considered by the higher courts.”

Zhongshan applied to enforce the award in Washington, DC in 2022. Last year, the DC district court rejected Nigeria’s motion to dismiss the action on sovereign immunity grounds. The state argued the China-Nigeria BIT was “quintessentially sovereign” and therefore the award did not arise from a commercial relationship between the parties. The DC district proceeding is stayed pending Nigeria’s appeal of the sovereign immunity decision.

Zhongshan has also taken enforcement measures in various other jurisdictions, including in Quebec, where it seeks conservatory seizure of a private jet; and in Belgium, where Nigeria is challenging attachments of properties.

In the British Virgin Islands, Zhongshan has obtained an interim attachment over a £20 million liability owed Nigeria by BVI-registered company Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) under an English Commercial Court ruling. The Chinese company withdrew an earlier application to attach the same liability in England.

The Commercial Court ordered P&ID to pay Nigeria £20 million in costs in December last year after upholding the state’s challenge to an US$11 billion award in favour of the company. Mr Justice Robin Knowles found the award was procured through false evidence, corrupt payments and improper retention of leaked documents.

National Telecommunications Company, Globacom, has urged Nigerian workers to use the May Day celebration to reaffirm their commitment to the service of the nation.

In a statement issued in commemoration of the 2024 International Workers’ Day, Globacom enjoined workers to rededicate themselves to excellence so as to take Nigeria to a higher level.

“We salute Nigerian workers on this day and commend them for the hard work, commitment, resourcefulness and industry which are essential for the growth of the economy of any nation,” Globacom said, urging the work force not to rest on their oars.

While calling on workers to remain focused and steadfast in their work places, the company noted that the story of Nigeria cannot be complete without the huge contributions of workers, both in the public and private sectors.

The International Labour Day is celebrated every year on 1 May to commemorate the sacrifices of workers across the world.