Resign if you can’t pay minimum wage, NLC tells govs

The President, Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, on Friday urged state governors in Nigeria who cannot pay the N18, 000 minimum wage to resign.

Wabba who made this call during a condolence visit to the National Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Mr. Issa Aremu, over the death of his wife, Amudalat, said that it was sad and worrisome that even councillors had been receiving their full salaries across the country yet some governors were contemplating not paying the minimum wage on the claim of paucity of funds for their state governments. He warned that the welfare of workers must not be toyed with as according to him, the organised labour was ready to resist treating workers with less dignity.

Wabba said, “They have been misinforming the people about the N18, 000 minimum wage. Minimum wage is not fixed, it was negotiated through a tripartite system; 10 state governors represented the governors; the Federal Government and the organised private sector were also represented. It was a tripartite process of collective bargaining. We had looked at all the indices of ability to pay. It is a law and anybody that refuses to pay is breaking the law of Nigeria and we advise any such governor to resign.

“Why is it that the salary of councillors to the highest political office all over the country despite their inability to pay is the same? If there is economic challenge why should it be the workers that will bear the burden? Councillors in the least economic viable and in the most economic viable states in the country earn the same salaries. “So who are they fooling? Can they continue and in fool us? When the resources were there, workers were not enjoying. Now that there is a challenge in the system why should the burden be shifted only to the workers? That is not acceptable to us. This is like a battle for us and we will continue to insist that workers should work in dignity and there must be dignity in labour.”

The NLC boss also said the organised labour was in support of the Federal Government’s position not to remove fuel subsidy.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, had on Thursday said the Federal Government would not scrap the Petroleum Support Fund (also known as subsidy) but would, instead, embark on price modulation.