Organised labour on Monday sounded a warning to state governments that it would not tolerate any delays in the implementation of the new minimum wage which it said was already overdue.
At a mini rally in Abuja on Monday, ahead of the May Day rally, labour said state governments must begin payment of the N30,000 new minimum wage by the end of May.
The rally tagged, ‘March for jobs, our rights and shared prosperity’ had in attendance members of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress.
NLC’s Deputy President, Najeem Yasin, in his address said: “We are staging this rally to sensitise Nigerian workers ahead of May Day on Wednesday. It is also part of the centenary celebrations of the International Labour Organisation.
“As we prepare for May Day, we urge all state governments to implement the N30,000 new minimum wage. There should be no delay. The new wage is long overdue.
“This rally is also about job creation. We are not happy with the country’s high unemployment rate. We have thousands of youths that are unemployed. We call on the private sector to complement government’s efforts to eradicate unemployment in the country.
“We also call on the Federal Government to create the enabling environment for private sector participation in job creation.”
READ ALSO: Lagos Assembly: Finally, Lone PDP Lawmaker Defects to APC
President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Nasir Idis, who is also a Deputy President of the NLC, said in his own remarks: “We want to call on governors to ensure that they implement the new minimum wage. The NLC and TUC will not condone any governor that fails to implement the N30,000 minimum wage. They had representatives on the committee that arrived at the new minimum wage of N30,000.
“We will make any state that refuses to implement the new wage ungovernable for the governor. We will use our might and strength to ensure that all governors pay the money.”
The Vice-President of the NLC Issa Aremu, said, “We need to awaken the consciousness of our members to the importance of this year’s May Day. The focus of this year’s celebration is on the implementation of the new minimum wage. We expect the money to be paid by the end of May 2019.
“We have a problem with the governors because some of them will not want to pay. We have asked them to cut down on their excesses to accommodate workers’ welfare.
“We will occupy any state that refuses to pay by the end of May. It will be a war between organised labour and any state that fails to implement it by the end of May 2019.
“They must pay the arrears of April and full May salaries because the new minimum wage bill was signed into law in April. We don’t have any problem with the Federal Government, but we are ready to engage state governments on this issue.”
