Private sector must respect minimum wage ―Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the private sector must respect the minimum wage structure of the country and has therefore called for a mechanism for their strict adherence to the structure.

He has also the advanced reason why most media houses owe salaries to their workers, saying that beyond the issue of the adequate market for the media houses, the owners may likely resort to cheating their employees.

He spoke at the End of Year Seminar titled: “Journalists and Retirement Plan,” organized by State House Press Corps (SHPC) in Abuja on Monday.

He said: “The private sector does not respect the minimum wage. Even if a minimum wage is set nationally it is not necessarily respected by the private sector and this is something that should be factored into the status of a company and whether a company is even complying with the requirements.

“In other places, these are points which are checked when you are being considered for the task,  whether you are meeting your task or not. That is not the case here,  so we need to enforce that. We need to enforce some kind of adherence to the minimum wage structure.

“Not just the minimum wage of the lowest paid person, but minimum wages across the board especially so that there is a certain amount of regulation of how people are paid and how they are paid.”

The Vice President noted regrettably that journalists remuneration is poor but pointed out that poor remuneration is not limited to journalism alone as even President Muhammadu Buhari and himself are also poorly remunerated.

Citing a few media houses as an example, he observed that the way media houses pay journalists is dependent on the market as he noted that those with wider patronage tend to pay more.

While noting that journalism is hardly a profession from which one could make a good living, as “you’re just on your own,” Osinbajo also regretted that the profession is for all comers “as you do not need any special qualification to practice.”

He therefore, spoke of the need for some regulatory measures, particularly on the control of the entry point.

While stressing the need for a debate on the salary of journalists, Osinbajo said: “there’s is a need to look at proper perspective why people are poorly paid.”

The Vice President called on professional organizations to robustly engage media owners which do not pay their workers, adding:  “we ought to have a debate on what kind of pay can stop you from accepting brown envelope or whatever.”

He added that all employers must be compelled to do the contributory pension scheme as he advised journalists to “seek self-improvement and be a sector expert” as a way of preparing themselves for the future.

Osinbajo stated: “I realized first of all that this is not a profession from which one could make a decent living in the first place unless you find a  really good way of doing so.

“But more importantly for me was the fact that you are just on your own. Journalism as a profession is so wide open

“There are a few reasons in my view why remuneration is poor and why those in the media especially those who are formally engaged.  I will show you that it is not your profession and why that is the case.

“The first is that it is just simply cheating.  There are owners of media that are just cheating. They just want to get something for nothing and that is not uncommon,.It is a general malaise, it is not necessarily restricted to the media.

“It is also the same in the legal profession. There many lawyers if they tell you what they earn,  you will certainly not want to be a lawyer.”

He further said: “Entry into journalism is not vigorously enforced.  Most professions are able to pay better because there is entry requirements that are rigorously enforced,  Perhaps not the case in journalism and for good reason.

“There are those who are formally trained as journalists but the profession will admit anybody at all even if you are not formally trained as a journalist and that is even becoming more so now with social media platforms, with blogs.”

Chairman of the occasion and governor of Nasarawa state, Tanko al-Makura, represented by the state Commissioner of Information, Mohammed Kwara, said a good retirement plan starts the day one is employed.

He said: “On the whole, it is important to note that a good retirement plan starts the very day you are employed knowing that whatever has a beginning has an end. 35 or 60 mandatory years of service are certainly not eternity.

“It must also be stressed here that it is not too late to plan even where you have just a few years to retire from service.

“The most important thing is that you have a plan either of money saved or of the job you intend to carry after on retirement. Put every other factor in place such as your age, strength and the mental capacity to carry on.”

The guest lecturer and Chairman of Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu said retirement should not be synonymous with being tired or giving up as it should be a stepping stone.

He advised working journalists to pursue their purposes with passion, stressing the need to increase capacity in readiness for the next phase

“Set your milestones and work towards accomplishing the milestone,” he told the reporters.