– The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned governors against any excuse not to implement the minimum wage in their states
– Ayuba Wabba, president of NLC confirmed that some states have commenced implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage
– Wabba wonders how political office holders find the money to pay huge packages to themselves while complaining about workers In what seems like another looming battle against some governors, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a deadline of December 31, for states to end negotiations over the new minimum wage to workers.
The NLC also said no state governor can produce any genuine reason not to pay workers, especially when the pay packages of politicians in the country is compared with the N30,000 minimum wage.
Leadership reports that Ayuba Wabba, president of the NLC, wondered why some of the states had not commenced implementation of the minimum wage which is not even enough to care for the workers’ families.
He noted that the new Value Added Tax (VAT) would soon face implementation with consequences on the pay packages of workers and earnings of other Nigerians and, as a result, there is no excuse not to pay minimum wage.
Wabba, who spoke when he met the 36 chairmen of the NLC, asked the governors to respect the law on minimum wage because the body will do everything to protect workers in the country.
He confirmed that some states had started paying the new minimum wage while some others are still grappling with how to commence payment to workers. He described governors who say they cannot pay because of the huge workforce in their states as liars arguing that most workers in states have retired and have not been replaced.
“They say workers are many but we know that in many states employment have not taken place, many workers have retired. “When the minimum wage was increased to N18,000, political office holders earnings was increased by 800% by the revenue mobilisation and fiscal commission,” he lamented.
He wondered how the political office holders find the money to pay themselves when they cannot afford payment to workers.
A state that is receiving small amount of money from the federation account if you look at what the political office holders are earning, it’s the same with Lagos state that is very buoyant and in some cases, they can even earn higher,” he argued.