The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a stark warning, threatening to shut down the country for a month in response to the National Assembly’s plans to deregulate the national minimum wage.
This threat comes as the nation awaits the announcement of a new national minimum wage, following protracted negotiations between Organised Labour, the Federal Government, and the Organised Private Sector.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, voiced the union’s stance during the 67th Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association Annual General Meeting in Lagos.
Ajaero stated, “As we are here, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting.
They have decided to remove section 34 from the Exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list so that the state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again.
You cannot decide what you should earn.”
He added, “The very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a law that will not benefit Nigerian workers, they will be their drivers and gatemen, and there will be no movement for one month.
We cannot accept any situation where the governors and the National Assembly members will foist a slave wage on workers and force poverty on the citizens. Organised Labour will not accept it.”
Ajaero further argued, “We don’t have a situation where people determine their wages that amounts to some level of illegality.
In the constitution, there is a provision for equal work for equal pay.
If we go into job analysis and job evaluation, we may discover that a clerk here may be doing the same work as the clerk in Sokoto.”
He criticised the decentralisation plan, noting that paying workers different wages for the same job is against the principles of equity and equality before the law.
He also pointed out that the International Labour Organisation recognises wage as a national law, not one to be determined by sub-national entities.
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The labour leader insisted that every country has a minimum wage, with some states paying above the basic minimum.
He accused certain individuals, influenced by state governors, of opposing the N60,000 minimum wage, despite participating in meetings with labour in bad faith.
“We have put our members on notice that if these people succeed in coming up with such unpatriotic and obnoxious law.
This democracy they are playing with, we have enough in this country in terms of hardship.
Some people, based on their privileged positions want to inflict more Injuries on the workers and citizens of this country and that will not be accepted,” Ajaero stressed.
He reiterated that the labour movement would not accept “slave wages” and warned that any attempt to undermine Nigerian workers would be fiercely resisted by the NLC.
“There is no governor that is not receiving the same thing nationwide, they are not receiving according to their revenue in their states, but they want that of the workers to be so.
So, the issue of using revenue as a basis for the payment of minimum wage is a lame one.
If any governor is making that argument, then he doesn’t know what governance is all about,” he stated.
Ajaero urged governors to use their capacities and acumen to improve their states’ prosperity, rather than lamenting their inability to pay the minimum wage.
He highlighted the difficulties faced by families surviving on N60,000 per month and argued that the government could have avoided current challenges by addressing labour’s proposals before removing oil subsidies.
Meanwhile, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Kingsley Chinda, clarified that a proposal is before the National Assembly Committees on Constitutional Review to move the minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.
Chinda acknowledged differing opinions on the matter but noted that the proposal aims to allow states to legislate on labour issues according to their capabilities.
Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH in Abuja, Chinda explained, “There is a proposal to move it to concurrent list where states could legislate on labour matters.”
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