At least five state governors announced plans to implement a new minimum wage in a last-minute attempt to avert strike actions by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The Nigerian workers’ union declared industrial action in about 14 states, to protest the failure of state governors to implement a new minimum wage to help workers cope with the high cost of living amid economic reforms.
In a letter dated 29 November and addressed to all presidents and general secretaries of all the NLC affiliates, the labour union stated that following the resolution by its Central Working Committee in Kano, workers in the non-compliant states were required to proceed on strike to compel the governments to implement the new minimum wage law.
Initially, NLC said the states affected by the strike were Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, FCT, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
However, following the NLC’s declaration, some state governors hurriedly announced the approval of the minimum wage, forcing the labour unions in such states to suspend their planned action. The states that reached an agreement on the minimum wage over the weekend are Katsina, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Jigawa, and Ondo states.
Following the last-minute approval by these state governors, the NLC opted out of the planned strike in all but Nasarawa.
Union representatives earlier said the strike was triggered after months of failed negotiations to implement the new minimum wage.
Media reports show while the strike was suspended in many states, it was enforced and effective in others.
In July, President Bola Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill into law, providing a national minimum wage of N70,000 for both the public and private sectors.
Analysts said the current socio-economic realities in Nigeria have rendered the N30,000 agreed upon in 2019 almost worthless. A comprehensive report on poverty by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimated that more than 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor based on four indicators: food security, healthcare, education, and work.
However, some state governors argued that they don’t have the resources to pay the new minimum wage. With no conscious effort to cut down on the cost of governance by political officeholders at all levels, experts said it is difficult for any state to tell Labour that there is no money to pay the N70,000 they demand as the minimum wage for workers.