The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a stern warning of a 30-day nationwide strike in response to the National Assembly’s plans to deregulate the national minimum wage.
This announcement comes amid ongoing negotiations between the NLC, the Federal Government, and the Organized Private Sector over a new minimum wage.
NLC President Joe Ajaero voiced the union’s position at the 67th Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association in Lagos. He criticized the legislative move to transfer the power to set minimum wages from the federal level to individual states.
“As we are here, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting. They have decided to remove section 34 from the Exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list so that the state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again. You cannot decide what you should earn,” Ajaero said.
Ajaero warned that if such a law is passed, it would lead to a one-month nationwide strike. “We cannot accept any situation where the governors and the National Assembly members will foist a slave wage on workers and force poverty on the citizens. Organised Labour will not accept it,” he asserted.
The NLC president argued that the proposed decentralization would create wage disparities across different states, undermining the principle of equal pay for equal work. “The so-called decentralization of wages to pay somebody here less than what the other person is receiving is against the concept of equity and equality before the law,” Ajaero stated.
According to Ajaero, the International Labour Organization recognizes minimum wage as a national law, not something to be determined by sub-national entities. He highlighted that some states are already paying above the current minimum wage and that this standard should be maintained nationwide.
Ajaero also criticized some governors who claimed they couldn’t afford to pay the proposed N60,000 minimum wage, labeling such claims as insincere. “Some people, based on their privileged positions, want to inflict more injuries on the workers and citizens of this country, and that will not be accepted,” he emphasized.
The NLC’s stance is that all Nigerian workers deserve fair wages regardless of their state of residence. “Every worker in Nigeria across the country is seen as Nigerian workers and any attempt to discredit them in a federation will first be resisted by the NLC,” Ajaero declared.
In the legislative context, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Kingsley Chinda, acknowledged the proposal to move minimum wage discussions to the concurrent list, allowing states to set their own wages. However, he advised against it, arguing that “Labour disputes should be standardized and industrial courts should have precedents.”
Chinda warned that decentralizing wage laws could weaken the labor movement and complicate labor relations across states. “It will be complex if state labor groups become independent,” he noted.
