The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, has warned against an alleged plan by the National Assembly to move the minimum wage from the Exclusive legislative list to the Concurrent list.
Ajaero who raised the alarm while addressing participants at the 2024 NLC Rain School in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital, on Monday, cautioned that if the National Assembly passes a law allowing state governors to determine the minimum wage, labour movements will be halted for one month nationwide.
Item 34 of Part 1 under Exclusive Legislative List contained in the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended) reads as follows: “Labour, including trade unions, industrial relation; conditions, safety and welfare of labour; industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage for the federation or any part thereof; and industrial arbitrations.”
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According to Ajaero “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 to you and I so that there will be no minimum wage again.
“When they finish that meeting they will collect minimum wage, I promise all of you that. The very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a Law that will not benefit Nigerian workers they will be their drivers, and gatemen. There’ll be no movement for one month.
“Comrades, I am putting you on standby. If that committee comes up with such a policy, for one month nobody should come out. They are the major threat to democracy in this country. Democracy is not all about starving and punishing people. That’s not the democracy we fought for.
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“They were not there when we fought for this democracy, and now they are trying to make Laws to remove Wage from the Exclusive list. So comrades as I have talked you here I have talked to everybody. We are waiting for them to come up with such hypocritical law.
And from today let them abolish security vote.”
Ajaero said that democracy is not about starving and punishing people, and that the NLC will resist any attempt to remove the minimum wage from the Exclusive list.
He stressed the need for federal lawmakers and governors to be subject to the minimum wage, questioning why leaders are bent on cheating workers amid current hardships. He regretted that agreements with the government are often disregarded, citing the examples of CNG vehicles and the Port Harcourt refinery.
Speaking further, the labour leader said, “Nigeria is a country where there are no provisions for the poor man. So Comrades I was looking for this opportunity to talk with you, to know that we are not troublemakers.”
“The world of work can only be fair when it can deliver on the four pillars of decent work. This includes a national minimum wage that speaks to the cost of living because that is what our wages are supposed to take care of.
“Our demand for N250,000 is predicated on this to avoid the proposed slave wage by our social partners. We cannot afford to continue working in greater poverty. We must remember that Education remains one of the most potent tools to cause critical change in our society.
“Let us harness the power of education to shape a future of work that upholds the values we stand for and ensure a just and prosperous society for all,” he added.
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted the comments credited to governors that states should determine their minimum wage in their domains.
The tripartite committee on the new minimum wage had proposed N62,000 as a new minimum wage while organised labour insists on N265,000.
President Bola Tinubu later received the report of the committee, promising to pay what the country can afford.
He is still consulting with stakeholders after which a bill to enact a new minimum wage will be sent to the National Assembly.
