NLC plans nationwide protest March 10 over minimum wage

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday said workers would hold a nationwide protest on March 10, over plans by the National Assembly to remove the national minimum wage from the exclusive list.

It also announced plans to picket filling stations hoarding petrol creating scarcity and long queues in some cities.

The House of Representatives last weekend debated a bill to remove the powers to negotiate wage matters from the exclusive to the concurrent list, citing the inability of state governors to pay the present N30,000 minimum wage for the move.

The bill, which was sponsored by Garba Mohammed, has scaled second reading in the House.

The NLC leadership said the protest would hold in the various Houses of Assembly of the 36 states of the federation.

The decision for the protest was taken by the congress at the end of its National Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the Congress would resist any attempt to exterminate Nigeria’s working class.

Wabba, in a communiqué he jointly signed with the acting General Secretary of the NLC, Ismail Bello, said the bill was an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s working class.

It stated, “NEC decided that there will be a national protest action commencing from the 10th of March, 2021 in the Federal Capital Territory and especially to the National Assembly.

“The protest is to make a strong statement that Nigerian workers would not lie low and watch hard fought rights which are of global standards bastardised by opportunistic and narrow-thinking politicians.

“NEC resolved that the national protest will be concurrently held in all the 36 states of the federation and to the different State Houses of Assembly across Nigeria.

“NEC decided that should the need arise; it has the empowered the National Administrative Council of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike action especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the national minimum wage from the Exclusive legislative List to the Concurrent legislative list.”

Reacting to the hardship caused by the hoarding of fuel over fears of petrol price hike, the NLC condemned the action and threatened to picket such filling stations.