Bureaucratic Élites and Public-Sector Wage Bargaining in Nigeria

Dafe Otobo

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00006765

Bureaucratic Élites and Public-Sector Wage Bargaining in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Dafe Otobo

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The establishment of independent commissions in Nigeria since 1931 to review wage structures, gradings, and relativities in the public sector would seem to suggest either a continuing belief in their efficacy for determining remuneration and job classification, or else that this method has become ‘inevitable’ for reasons that remain to be discovered.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 1986 , pp. 101 - 126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00006765 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

^{Page 102 note 1} Report of the Presidential Commission on Parastatals (Apapa, 1981), pp. 68–72 - the Onosode Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 102 note 2} Report of the Structure and Salaries and Wage Review Commission on Public Services (Lagos, 1974) - the Udoji Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 102 note 3} These are current figures, adjusted in accordance with the 1980–2 incomes policy guidelines. The Udoji Commission proposed salary scales that ranged from a minimum of 720 for GL01 to a maximum of 15,520 for GL17, per annum. Federal Budget (Lagos, 1983), appendix liv.Google Scholar PubMed

^{Page 103 note 1} Hopkins, A. G., An Economic History of West Africa (London, 1973);Google Scholar and Hughes, A. and Cohen, Robin, ‘An Emerging Nigerian Working Class: the Lagos experience, 1897–1939’, in Gutkind, Peter C. W., Cohen, Robin, and Copans, Jean (eds.), An African Labour History (Beverly Hills and London, 1978), originally published under a similar title by the Faculty of Commerce and Social Studies, University of Birmingham, November 1971.Google Scholar

^{Page 103 note 2} Hailey, Lord, An African Survey (London, 1938).Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 1} Ananaba, Wogu, The Trade Union Movement in Nigeria (Benin City, 1969), p. 12.Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 2} Ibid.

^{Page 104 note 3} Ibid.

^{Page 104 note 4} Report of a Committee Appointed to Consider the Adequacy or Otherwise of the Rates of Pay of Labour and of African Government Servants and Employees in the Township of Lagos (London, 1942) - the Bridges Committee.Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 5} Report of the Tudor Davies Commission into the Cost of Living in the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (London, 1946).Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 6} Report of the Commission on the Civil Services of British West Africa, 1945–6 (London, 1947) - the Harragin Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 7} Report on Unestablished and Daily-Rated Government Servants (Lagos, 1947) - the Miller Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 104 note 8} Report on Methods of Negotiation Between Government and Government Employees on Questions Affecting Conditions of Service, and Report on Methods of Negotiation Between Government and Government Employees Affecting Conditions of Service in Industrial Departments (Lagos, 1948) - the Cowan Inquiry.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 1} Report of the Commission on the Public Services of the Governments of the Federation of Nigeria (Lagos, 1955) - the Gorsuch Commission.Google Scholar See Cohen, Robin, Labour and Politics in Nigeria, 1945–71 (London, 1974), p. 191.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 2} Review of Salaries and Wages. Report by the Commission Appointed by the Governments of the Federation, the Northern Region, the Eastern Region and the Southern Cameroons (Lagos, 1959) - the Mbanefo Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 3} Report of the Commission for the Review of Wages and Salaries in the Public Service of the Western Region (Ibadan, 1960) - the Morgan Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 4} Report of the Commission on the Review of Wages, Salaries and Conditions of Service of the Junior Employees of the Governments of the Federation and in Private Establishments (Lagos, 1964) - the Morgan Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 105 note 5} First Report of the Wages and Salaries Review Commission (Lagos, 1970) - the Adebo Commission.Google Scholar Followed by Second and Final Report of the Wages and Salaries Review Commission, 1970–1 (Lagos, 1971).Google Scholar

^{Page 106 note 1} Warren, W. M., ‘Urban Real Wages and the Nigerian Trade Union Movement’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change (Chicago), 15, 1, 1966,Google Scholar and ‘Urban Real Wages and the Nigerian Trade Union Movement, 1939–1960: a rejoinder’, in Ibid. 17, 4, 1969.

^{Page 106 note 2} Kilby, Peter, ‘Industrial Relations and Wage Determination: failure of the Anglo-Saxon model’, in The Journal of Developing Areas (Macomb), 1, 4, 07, 1967, p. 493.Google Scholar

^{Page 107 note 1} Berg, Elliot J., ‘Urban Real Wages and the Nigerian Trade Union Movement, 1939–1960: a comment’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change, 17, 4, 1969.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{Page 107 note 2} Weeks, John F., ‘A Comment on P. Kilby: industrial relations and wage determination’, in Journal of Developing Areas, 3, 1, 1968.Google Scholar See also Peter Kilby, ‘A Reply to John F. Week's comment’, in Ibid. 3, 1, 1968 followed by John F. Weeks, ‘Further Comment on the Kilby/Weeks Debate: an empirical rejoinder’, Robin Cohen, ‘Further Comment on the Kilby/Weeks Debate’, and Peter Kilby, ‘Further Comment on the Kilby/Weeks Debate: final observations’, in Ibid. 5, 2, January 1971.

^{Page 107 note 3} Cohen, , loc. cit.Google Scholar

^{Page 107 note 4} Warren, , ‘Urban Real Wages and the Nigerian Trade Union Movement’, p. 32.Google Scholar

^{Page 107 note 5} Kilby, , ‘A Reply to John F. Weeks's Comment’, p. 24.Google Scholar

^{Page 108 note 1} The ‘target-earning’ hypothesis or the ‘backward-bending supply curve of effort’ has been severely criticised; see Berg, Elliot J., ‘Backward-Sloping Labour Supply Functions in Dual Economics – the African Case’, in The Quarterly Journal of Economics (Cambridge, Mass.), LXXV, 1961,Google Scholar and Vatter, H. G., ‘On the Folklore of the Backward-Sloping Supply Curve’, in Industrial and Labor Relations Review (New York), XIV, 1961.Google Scholar

^{Page 108 note 2} Hopkins, A. G., ‘The Lagos Strike of 1897: an exploration in Nigerian labour history’, in Past and Present: a journal of historical studies (Oxford), 35, 1966, pp. 147–9.Google Scholar

^{Page 109 note 1} Yesufu, T. M., An Introduction to Industrial Relations in Nigeria (Ibadan, 1962), p. 34.Google Scholar

^{Page 109 note 2} Weeks, John F., ‘Wage Policy and the Colonial Legacy – a Comparative Study’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 9, 3, 10 1971, pp. 361–87.Google Scholar

^{Page 109 note 3} In fact, at this time the T.U.C. was torn into factions over its continued affiliation with the National Council of Nigerian Citizens – indeed, some members of its executive (including Michael Imoudu and Aghedo) also held executive positions in the party. The T.U.C. later split into two, with those desiring links with the N.C.N.C. forming a rival central body called the Nigerian National Federation of Labour.Google Scholar

^{Page 110 note 1} For more details, see Oyemakinde, W., ‘Pullen Marketing System: a trial in food price control in Nigeria, 1941–1947’, in Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria (Ibadan), VI, 4, 06 1973.Google Scholar

^{Page 111 note 1} Report of the Gorsuch Commission, 1955.Google Scholar

^{Page 111 note 2} O'Connell, James, ‘The Political Class and Economic Growth’, in Nigerian Journal of Economics and Social Studies (Ibadan), 8, 1, 1966.Google Scholar

^{Page 111 note 3} West Africa (London), 12 11 1971, p. 1348.Google Scholar PubMed

^{Page 112 note 1} Ayida, A. A., interview, 1984.Google Scholar

^{Page 112 note 2} These include Messrs M. A. Tukunboh, M. O. Ani, A. A. Attah, A. Ejuweyitsi, A. A. Ayida, I. Damcida, S. O. Wey, and A. Joda (P. Asiodu joined later).Google Scholar

^{Page 112 note 3} Federal Ministry of Information, Government Views on the Report of the Public Service Review Commission (Lagos, 1974), p. 5.Google Scholar

^{Page 113 note 1} Ibid.

^{Page 114 note 1} M. O. Ani was then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Establishments.Google Scholar

^{Page 114 note 2} Sessional Paper No. 7, 1964.Google Scholar

^{Page 114 note 3} Nigerian Opinion (Ibadan), 8, 6–8, 1972, pp. 53–5.Google Scholar PubMed

^{Page 114 note 4} Interviews, Lagos, October 1978 and January 1984.Google Scholar

^{Page 114 note 5} Ibid. 4 July 1983.

^{Page 115 note 1} Report of the Morgan Commission, 1964, p. 69.Google Scholar

^{Page 115 note 2} The market value of such rents was anything between N30,000 and N60,000 per annum, depending on the number of bedrooms and whether located in Ikoyi or the more expensive Victoria Island.Google Scholar

^{Page 115 note 3} West Africa, 12 November 1971, p. 1337.Google Scholar

^{Page 115 note 4} Daily Times (Lagos).Google Scholar PubMed

^{Page 116 note 1} Government Views on the Report of the Public Service Review Commission, p. 28.Google Scholar

^{Page 116 note 2} Ibid.

^{Page 116 note 3} Ibid. p. 5.

^{Page 116 note 4} West Africa, 3 March 1975, p. 249.Google Scholar

^{Page 117 note 1} Ibid. 17 January 1975, p. 25.

^{Page 117 note 2} Most Ministers easily exceeded their budgets (which were, of course, estimates in the first place) while ignoring most of the approved projects. As there were no internal checks, and as the President was notoriously unable to bring any of his Ministers to book, they ruled over their fiefdoms with little financial accountability or prudence.

^{Page 119 note 1} The ‘co-operation’ between professionals (accountants, lawyers, architects, engineers, surveyors, etcetera) in the public service and those in the private sector was too intense for the kind of regulation envisaged by the Government (or, shall we say, by the administrators?): too many lucrative contracts were available, whether ‘ghost’ or real.

^{Page 119 note 2} Report of the Presidential Commission on Salary and Conditions of Service of University Staff (Apapa, 1981) - the Cookey Commission.Google Scholar

^{Page 119 note 3} Even before the adoption of the ‘austerity measures’ in early 1983, when oil revenues dramatically declined, the Government sought to suspend the U.S.S. and to revert to the unified salary structure until ‘the economy picked up’. The Vice-President was reported in the national dailies to have suggested that university staff be paid partly in government bonds if the U.S.S. was to be retained in ‘the face of austerity measures’!

^{Page 120 note 1} Report of the Onosode Commission, 1981.

^{Page 120 note 2} Although the polytechnics made disparaging remarks in their memoranda about the entire system and structure of the universities, they themselves quite happily ran two parallel career structures: graduates being designated ‘lecturers’, while non-graduates, most of whom were products of the polytechnics, being called ‘instructors’, and at every level the latter category earned less!

^{Page 121 note 1} ‘We wait, think of the best time, let the union boys prepare the grounds by giving their views publicity, and then announce the institution of a committee or wage commission.’ Interview with Ayida, April 1984.

^{Page 122 note 1} Daily Times, 20 April 1982.Google Scholar

^{Page 122 note 2} Opsahl, R. L. and Dunnette, M. D., ‘The Role of Financial Compensation in Industrial Motivation’, in Psychological Bulletin (Washington, D.C.), 66, 1966.Google Scholar

^{Page 123 note 1} Weeks, ‘Wage Policy and the Colonial Legacy – a Comparative Study’.Google Scholar

^{Page 123 note 2} Lawler III, E. E., ‘Using Pay to Motivate Job Performance’, in Steers, R. M. and Porter, L. W. (eds.), Motivation and Work Behavior (New York, 1979 edn.), p. 525.Google Scholar

^{Page 124 note 1} Addenda to the Report of the Presidential Commission on Parastalas (Apapa, 1981).Google Scholar

^{Page 125 note 1} Haire, M., Ghiselli, E. E., and Gordon, M. E. A., ‘A Psychological Study of Pay’, in Journal of Applied Psychology (Silver Spring, Md.), 51, 4, 1967,Google Scholar and M. H. Brenner and H. C. Lockwood, ‘Salary as a Predictor of Salary: a 20-year study’, in Ibid. 49, 1965.

^{Page 126 note 1} Offe, Clause, Industry and Inequality (London, 1976), p. 45.Google Scholar

^{Page 126 note 2} Government Views on the Report of the Public Service Review Commission, p. 36.Google Scholar

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Bureaucratic Élites and Public-Sector Wage Bargaining in Nigeria

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