James Harrison, Benin
Nigeria may witness a prolonged industrial action any moment from now as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), threatened to embark on one-month complete shutdown should the National Assembly proceed with it’s plans to deregulate the minimum wage.
This is just as the NLC maintained that that the issue of minimum wage remained a national issue and should be so treated.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who stated this while speaking at the 67th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, reiterated the status of minimum wage as national, warning that any attempt to see it otherwise might force the organised labour to embark on a prolonged industrial action.
The NLC President therefore warned that the organized labor would not tolerate governors and the National Assembly members imposing unfair wages and poverty on workers and citizens.
“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.
“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.” Ajaero warned.
The organised labour, he reaffirmed, “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. Organized Labour will not accept it.”
It would be recalled that the Federal Government and the NLC are yet to agree on the minimum wage payable to workers as the two parties are pushing for two different wages.
While the NLC is asking for N250,000, the government is offering N60,000.
