Minimum wage: Labour accuses nine govs of instigating constitutional crisis

Nigeria Labour Congress has accused nine governors of being behind attempts to move the national minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.

The NLC has also threatened to shut down the nation over move to amend the constitution to remove minimum wage from the exclusive list to concurrent list.

But the Senate assured the labour leaders that the National Assembly would not take any action inimical to their interest.

Although the NLC leadership did not name the nine governors, records from the labour show that Taraba, Benue, Plateau, Kwara, Kogi, Cross River, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Abia are yet to commence payment of N30,000 minimum wage about two years after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Act into law in 2019.

The NLC described the nine governors as “anti-workers,” saying one of them is using the sponsor of the bill against the interests of Nigerian workers.

President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, addressing workers in Abuja during the nationwide protests, said, “When the N30,000 minimum wage was fixed, it was negotiated. Six governors represented the interests of the geo-political zones. We had MAN, SMSE, LCCI, NECA also on the table.

“Our demand was N66,000 – looking at the economic challenge and how the purchasing powers of Nigerian workers have dwindled but through the process of dialogue and negotiations, including the ability to pay, on the negotiation table we were reasonable and everybody agreed on N30, 000.

“That is how the report was submitted to Mr President, a bill went to the National Assembly, there was a public hearing and it was promulgated.

“We are then taken aback by a few governors. Let me mention that the governors are nine – because some of them gave us this information; they are only nine out of the 36 that are anti-workers.

“We are told and nobody has contradicted this fact, that they (lawmakers) collect N13m per month.

“How can he (the bill sponsor) in his right senses say that the current minimum wage of N30,000 is too much for Nigerian workers? Can we say shame to him?”

Wabba also said, ”The issue of National Minimum Wage is a standard set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the first agency of the United Nations(UN) born in 1919 after the first world war. So we have the powers of the UN.

“What I am reiterating  is that: the national minimum wage is not a Nigerian standard. It is an international standard. Their argument is that because they want federalism, they want the issue of the National Minimum Wage to be removed to the Concurrent List. That is false.

“In the countries of the world, we have 26 federal nations that have minimum wage in their Exclusive List,  including the United States. As I speak to you, the minimum wage of America is $10 per hour. President Joe Biden came in and the first statement he made was that he is going to review the national minimum wage.”

The bill sponsored by Garba Mohammed from Kaduna State has passed first and second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill seeks to decentralise the payment of minimum wage to workers in the country to allow states to pay according to their financial capacity.

Labour organised the protests at the National Assembly complex in Abuja and House of Assembly complexes in the 36 states.

Addressing the workers, the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Abdullahi Sabi said told them not to worry, adding that a similar bill in the 8th Senate never saw the light of the day.