Governors meet to address vexed issue of new minimum wage as nationwide strike looms

GOVERNORS of Nigeria's 36 states will be holding an emergency meeting in Abuja today to address the burning issue of the planned new minimum wage as tension rises with trade unions demanding a fresh threshold of N30,000 a month.

At the moment, the national minimum wage is a paltry N18,000 a month and even at that, numerous state governors have failed to pay workers with most of them owing a backlog of salary arrears. In the recent Ekiti and Osun state gubernatorial elections, salary arrears were a central issue, with voters punishing incumbent governors for owing them, so paying a revised wage of N30,000 is likely to be an uphill task for most governors.

Organised labour warned that it would call out its members to take industrial action unless the federal government meets honours their agreement for a N30,000 a month minimum wage. Over recent months, the government and the trade unions have been negotiating a minimum wage and according to the Nigerian labour Congress (NLC), the two sides have agreed to increase the amount to N30,000 but the government is disputing this.

According to the unions, the Tripartite Committee on the New National Minimum Wage had concluded its negotiations and agreed on N30, 000 following an appeal made by Organisation Private Sector (OPS) as to what its members could afford. This stance is being denied by Dr Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and productivity, who claims that  the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage was yet to conclude its negotiations as state governors had made a proposal of N20,000 while the federal government had offered N24,000.

Unions have warned that if the governors do not honour the agreement by November, they will embark on an indefinite nationwide strike. Yesterday, the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, said they will hold an emergency meeting today and come up with a position on the matter.

Governor Yari said: “The position of the governors is not very clear to some of you but we are willing to pay the amount but the issue is the capacity–the muscle to pay. We discussed that government has some numbers and eventually the committee has given some proposals but the governors have not come out with any amount.

"Tomorrow, we are going to discuss with governors and say, look at what labour is sending. Look at the bill that was directed by the minister of labour and employment to be sent to the NGF’s secretariat so that we can digest the content of the bill, discuss it and come up with our position as governors because we are critical partners on this.”

In anticipation of the strike, President Muhammadu Buhari has already signed an executive order titled No work, No pay, which will mean that striking workers cannot be paid while taking industrial action.  However, the unions have said this will not deter them as organised labour has not seen any sign that this government is willing to demonstrate honour and integrity in relating with workers and the masses.