Governors Ignorant Of Minimum Wage—NLC Alleges

NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Waba (4l) flanked by other Labour leaders during the Rally to create awareness on the New Minimum Wage for workers organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress at the Federal Capital territory, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida.

Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has accused state governors in Nigeria of ignorance of what the minimum is all about, saying they have made a mockery of minimum wage.

In an interview on the sideline of the ongoing 111th Session of the International Labour Conference, ILC, in Geneva, Switzerland, NLC’s General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja, lamented that governors ought to have been impeached for breaching the minimum wage law.

Among others, he said “The greatest challenge to wage administration in Nigeria is ignorance of the governors.

We have a situation where our laws and the global best practices, labour administration is on the exclusive list and the national minimum wage is a priority for more than 187 countries in the world that have a minimum wage for the nationals.

“What national minimum wage is a specific wage that no employer can pay his work as agreed to by the tripartite body (Government, Labour and Employers). But our governors have made a mockery of what a national minimum wage ought to be in Nigeria by reducing it to their own definition of what they are willing to pay workers.

“Governors have reduced salary payment to privilege. They pay workers for services rendered and not dashing out money. Salary payment ensures that societies grow. Therefore, ignorance is the bane of the Nigerian minimum wage implementation.

“What ought to have happened is to carry out an impeachment procedure against such governors because they are violating the constitution and the best sanction for such behaviour is impeachment. But those that should carry out the impeachment are also under the control of the governors. at the end of the day people are pointing their searchlight in the wrong direction.

“Ordinarily, it is the government that ought to have a template and even propose payment that can ensure its citizens survive and are able to meet basic comfort. Every worker should be able to put food on the table for his family of four. That minimal comfort should be the standard. It is when deeper issues are discussed that you can go into collective bargaining.

“So, the minimum wage should be the least negotiation that is compulsive because it puts the responsibility on the government to make sure it protects its citizens. The minimum wage is protective legislation from the government for its citizens. The determination of the minimum wage will be simple and less tasking when our leaders appreciate and begin to see the welfare of the citizens as their priority.”