The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced the cancellation of the planned strike action scheduled for Tuesday, initially intended to demand a new national minimum wage.
This announcement was made by NLC President Joe Ajaero on Monday during the ongoing International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ajaero clarified that the figures discussed by the Tripartite Committee on minimum wage are currently with President Bola Tinubu.
He emphasized that the submission of N62,000, proposed by the government and organized employers, and the labour’s proposal of N250,000 does not imply that labour has accepted the N62,000 figure as the new minimum wage.
“The tripartite committee submitted two figures to the President. Government and employers proposed N62,000 while labour proposed N250,000.
We are waiting for the decision of the President. Our National Executive Council (NEC) will deliberate on the new figure when it is out,” Ajaero explained.
He further stated, “We cannot declare a strike now because the figures are with the President. We will wait for the President’s decision. During the tenure of the immediate past President, the figure proposed was N27,000, but he increased it to N30,000. We are hopeful that this President will do the right thing. The President noted that the difference between N62,000 and N250,000 is a wide gulf.”
Ajaero also criticized state governors, particularly those under the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, for rejecting the N62,000 minimum wage proposal.
He questioned the governors’ claims of inability to pay the proposed wage and called for an end to their demands for the decentralization of the minimum wage.
“How can any governor say he cannot pay? They cannot also be calling for the decentralization of the minimum wage. Are their wages decentralized? Governors whose states are not contributing a dime to the national purse and who generate pitiable Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) are collecting the same amount as governors whose states are generating billions of dollars into the FAAC,” he asserted.
Ajaero singled out Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who is currently paying a N70,000 minimum wage, as a positive example. “This is the type of governor that should be emulated and not the lazy ones,” he concluded.
