Organised labour kicks as Zamfara local government workers are only paid N6,000 minimum wage

ZAMFARA State is still paying its local government staff a minimum wage of N6,000 a month and never got round to implementing the N18,000 national figure according to the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (Nulge).

Over the last few months, labour unions and the government have been negotiating through the Tripartite Committee on the New National Minimum Wage, with both sides coming up with different interpretations of their agreement. Labour leaders rejected a decision by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) to peg the new minimum wage at N22,500 ($62) a month saying that the government must honour the agreement to raise it to N30,000 ($82.50) or face a general strike.

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State is one of those bitterly opposed to the new minimum wage, saying his state cannot afford it but Nulge have warned that organised labour will not tolerate any backtracking on the agreed deal. According to the union, the governor was fighting against the actualisation of a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers to cover up his administration’s alleged failure to implement the N18,000 old figure.

Nulge national president Ibrahim Khaleel, who broke the news ahead of the 40th anniversary of the union in Abuja, said local government workers in Zamfara earned N6,000 as minimum wage. Mr Khaleel, who is also the national treasurer of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), insisted that the low-earning power of Zamfara residents was responsible for the rising insecurity in the state.

He  noted that as long as the workers were not well paid, there would be no peace in the state. Mr Khaleel regretted the fact that the nation’s local government workers were the most vulnerable in the world, saying while N18,000 was the minimum wage in Plateau State but local government workers were paid a fraction of this sum as salaries.

In addition, Mr Khaleel also said the local government system in the country was discriminated against. According to him, the welfare of workers in the system can only be enhanced if the local government areas are allowed to function well.

On local government autonomy, the union leader said only 12 states had taken their stand on the issue, with nine of them supporting autonomy for the local government and three others voting against it.