Minimum wage: Labour prepares for showdown with 15 governors as deadline expires

Organized labour has commenced mobilization of workers in 15 states of the federation for a strike to press home demand for the full implementation of the new minimum wage of N30,000.

The states, according to labour sources, are yet to demonstrate enough commitment in  keying into the new dispensation.

The bone of contention in most of the states is the consequential adjustment of the new salary structure.

Sources said labour leaders had been placed on standby for an industrial action.
The states were given up till on Friday to conclude negotiation on the matter.


However, it was gathered last night that many of the affected states were making frantic efforts to avert a showdown with workers.

The states are: Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Cross River, Zamfara, Gombe, Taraba, Niger, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara, and Nasarawa.

Some of the governors started negotiations a few days before the original deadline of December 31, 2019 set by labour.

But when it dawned on labour that some of the states had not gone far in their negotiation with their members, a grace period of one month was given to the governors by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to wrap up negotiations.

Although, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State started paying the new minimum wage, especially for the low cadre of workers last October, negotiation with labour on consequential adjustment for other categories of workers is still on.

Secretary-General of TUC, Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi, in an interview, said on Friday that the union was expecting feedback from all the states on the implementation of the minimum wage.

Ozigi said state council chairmen of the TUC would turn in their reports tomorrow.

According to him, the National Administrative Council (NAC) led by its President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, would meet any moment from now to assess compliance by state governors.

He said the NAC would then decide the next line of action after the review of reports from its state councils.

The secretary-general said the union was ready for “recalcitrant governors” who fail to implement the new wage for workers in their states.

Ozigi said: “We gave them (state governors) January 31 to implement and so far, we are compiling our results. Anytime from now, the NEC will meet to decide what to do with each of the states that has not complied.

“The January 31 was a grace period for them (state governors) to have done that (implement the minimum wage) and they have not done it. Those ones that have not done it, the NAC is meeting to decide what to do in each of those states.

“Already, all our state council members have been put on notice. Having done the assessment by the NAC meeting, of course any action can be taken in any of the states that is still faulting.

“The President of the TUC and the council (NAC) will meet to take that decision but we are still working on it.

“All we want to do is to get feedback from all the states. We are waiting for all the states to get the report by tomorrow then NAC will meet to take the next decision.

“All the state councils are on alert, waiting for direction from the NAC headed by the president.”

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba, could not be reached for comments yesterday.

However, an NLC source said that the union has fixed its own NAC meeting for Tuesday,February  4, 2020 in Abuja where a final decision on  the implementation of the minimum wage will be taken.

The highly placed source said state council chairmen of the NLC  had been placed on alert ahead of the final decision of the NAC.

The source said the NLC will use the meeting to “firm up a line of action on what to be done to recalcitrant governors who are yet to begin payment of the new wage.”

The source also said that affiliate unions in the states had been mobilized  to ensure that the proposed strike was total and effective.