Minimum Wage: Governors move to avert strike

The Nigerian workers' unions declared industrial action in about 14 states, protesting the failure of state governors to implement a new minimum wage.

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.

Compliance with strike

On Monday, the Punch newspaper reported that workers in the Federal Capital Territory, Cross River, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Zamfara states joined the strike to compel the authorities to comply with the new minimum wage bill.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the NLC said the strike recorded 90 per cent compliance in Ebonyi but Governor Francis Nwifuru vowed to sack any worker who fails to report to his duty post within the next 72 hours.

While Mr Nwifuru accused the Ebonyi NLC of not telling its members the truth and of embarking on the strike despite the welfare packages he has implemented for workers, the NLC accused the governor of unilaterally awarding workers a wage instead of a minimum wage. It described the decision as unacceptable, saying it is not standard practice in labour/government relations.

The FCT Council of the NLC also directed the workers in the six Area Councils to embark on an indefinite strike, but there was little compliance with that directive. The NLC faulted the failure of the area council chairpersons to respond to the demand for the implementation of the minimum wage despite receiving the communique of the National Executive Council of the NLC dated 14 November.

In Nasarawa, although the government had reached an agreement with the union to pay N70,500 minimum wage, NLC said it would proceed with the strike since the implementation has not begun.

Similarly, the Kaduna State Government said it had commenced the implementation of the new national minimum wage, with the state’s lowest-paid worker receiving N72,000 as gross salary in November. Still, NLC said it would carry on the strike action as a negotiated adjustment for other categories of workers had not been implemented.

The governor’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa, accused NLC of misrepresenting facts by claiming that the state has defaulted in the payment of the new minimum wage. Mr Musa said the NLC had been pushing for consequential adjustments but the state government argued that there was a difference between salary increments and the minimum wage.

In Zamfara, NLC said workers in the state had yet to receive the new minimum wage, and the only alternative was to join the strike.

No strike in Imo, Oyo

The NLC chairperson in Imo state, Uche Chigamaezu, told the Punch newspaper that there was no plan to embark on any strike.

“We cannot think of embarking on any strike because we have reached an agreement with the state government led by Governor Hope Uzodimma.”

“He has shown commitment to the payment of N70,000 minimum wage to Imo workers. We have communicated our position to the national body, and they are aware of the decision of the government to pay the minimum wage soon,” Mr Chigamaezu said.

In Oyo, the NLC and TUC separately said they would not participate in the strike action, saying they have a “good rapport” with the governor and hope to finalise negotiations this week.

States’ commitment to new minimum wage

Findings show that almost all the states have made a commitment to the new minimum wage which will see them pay the N70,000 approved by the federal government for the least paid worker.

However, in many states, the problem lies with the adjustments to be made to the salaries of other categories of workers. The NLC demands that such adjustments be reached after negotiations between the government and labour unions, while many governments only want to implement arbitrary increases.

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital and oil-rich Rivers state signed a bill to pay N85,000. The quartet of Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu and Akwa Ibom states agreed on N80,000.

In the North-east, Gombe State governor approved N71,500 as the new minimum wage while, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Borno, and Yobe approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage.

In the North-west, Kebbi approved N75,000, followed by Kaduna with N72,000, and Kano with N71,000. The trio of Katsina, Jigawa, and Sokoto have also approved N70,000 as the minimum wage but implementation has not begun. Zamfara state has yet to approve the new minimum wage bill.

Elsewhere in north-central, Niger has taken the lead by approving N80,000, followed by Benue with N75,000, and Kogi with N72,500. The central states of Plateau and Kwara both approved N70,000 while Nasarawa state joined the league late on Monday by approving N70,000.

In the south-west, Oyo has approved N80,000, Ogun is behind with N77,000, followed by Osun  N75,000, Ondo N73,000 and Ekiti N70,000.

While Rivers approved N85,000, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa committed to N80,000 minimum wage. Delta, Edo and Cross River approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage.

In the South-east, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu agreed to pay N80,000 to Enugu workers while his counterpart in Ebonyi approved N75,000. In Anambra, Imo, and Abia, governors approved N70,000 as the minimum wage.