The Organised Labour has warned state governors that it will not accept anything less than full implementation whenever the new minimum wage becomes law as it is ready to go into battle with such governors.

Labour’s position is coming at a time when the governors are asking the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider each state’s peculiarities in arriving at an acceptable figure, even as the panel is compiling the reports of its public hearing in the different zones.

The two labour centres in the country – the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress – are unanimous in rejecting the governors’ position, warning that it is a recipe for prolonged industrial unrest.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum had urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to take into account the present circumstances, unique characteristics of individual states, and the effects on both the government and private sector employers’ ability to pay when determining the wage amount.

The NGF, in a communiqué issued after its virtual meeting, and signed by its Chairman and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, made available to journalists on Thursday, stated, “Members reviewed the progress of the National Minimum Wage Committee and ongoing multi-stakeholder engagements towards agreeing on a fair minimum wage.

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“Members urged the NMWC to consider the current realities, individual states’ peculiarities, and consequential impact on the capacity of the government as well as private sector employers to pay. Members also emphasized the need for proposals to be data-driven and evidence-based.”

Before now, the labour unions had said the existing national minimum wage of N30,000 was no longer realistic, citing the steep inflation rate of 31.7 per cent in February from 29.9 per cent reported by the National Bureau of Statistics in January.

In January, the Federal Government inaugurated the tripartite committee responsible for deliberating on the national minimum wage.

Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the 37-member panel at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.

Comprising representatives of the federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the committee’s mandate is to propose a revised national minimum wage for the nation.

During zonal public hearings in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja, workers in the North-West requested N485,000; North-East, N560,000; North-Central, N709,000 (NLC) and N447,000 (TUC); South-West, N794,000; South-South, N850,000; and South-East, N540,000 by the NLC and N447,000 by the TUC.

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However, the Adamawa and Bauchi state governments suggested N45,000 as the new minimum wage.

The NLC on Friday said governors who fail to implement the new minimum wage when it becomes a law would be breaking the law.

The Congress also noted that it was working towards ensuring that tougher sanctions would be meted on such governors.

In an interview with The PUNCH in Abuja, the spokesperson for the NLC, Benson Upah, noted that while the Federal Government had never defaulted in the payment of minimum wages, governors had never performed up to the task.

Upah said, “I want to tell you that any state that refuses to pay the new minimum wage will be breaking the law because it will be a national law. The present minimum wage of N30,000 was consensual, so the governors who have refused to pay are breaking the law.

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“One of the things we are trying to do with the present negotiation is to ensure that enough sanctions are provided. We are going to ensure that sanctions are sufficiently tough to deter such criminally minded governors. When it comes to the minimum wage, the Federal Government has been adhering. We really can’t recall a situation of default in terms of payment of the minimum wage by the Federal Government.

“Where we had challenges in the past was about defiant governors and their number has been in the minority.”

Similarly, the TUC said it was unacceptable for the governors to undermine the payment of living wages to the workers with their divide-and-rule tactics, adding that state governments had no excuse to do whatever would be agreed on as the minimum wage since they now had more money available following the removal of fuel subsidy.

The Deputy President, TUC, Dr Tommy Etim, told newsman that the new minimum wage law being worked on would impose penalties on state governors and private sector employers who refused to pay the agreed sum.

He said, “Let me let you know that the Act will be amended to accommodate all those excesses, and then there will be those penalties. Definitely, the Act will be amended to take into cognizance the exclusion, the penalties, and the enforcement for any governor who decides to be recalcitrant; as well as employers of labour who decide to be recalcitrant in the implementation of the minimum wage.

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“The bottom line is that once the President signs the Minimum Wage Act, automatically, what is expected is the implementation. We don’t need to tell anybody to do the needful; the employer who hires you knows that he is going to pay you. Telling employers to pay is like telling a Pope how to prepare the Holy Communion.

“Yes, some governors could not pay the N30,000 old minimum wage; that was then and not now. If they couldn’t pay the N30,000 minimum wage, it therefore means that the Act was weak.”

Etim added, “The quantum of money they (governors) are getting from the removal of fuel subsidy is enough for them to pay. I don’t want anybody to say some governors may not want to pay the new minimum wage when it is unveiled. The ability to pay is there because they have more money accruing to them (governors) as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy.

“You know that in 2019, the sum of N30,000 was in vogue, and things were relatively still at the comfort of the masses, but in this case, have you taken a look at how much fuel is sold per litre now, the price of cooking gas, the price of bread, transportation? If anyone talks about the ability of the state governors to pay, it therefore means that we are preparing them to hide under that premise.”

The TUC deputy president added that there was no more room for excuses by the governors.

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He said the process of getting a new minimum wage was still ongoing and that the TUC’s position on it had been well articulated and that it was tenable in all the zones.

Etim stated, “That is also what we are going to table because we will not give different figures as far as the national minimum wage is concerned. The TUC will come up with a common figure, except as we speak, (NLC president, Joe) Ajaero decides to drop his ego, and then walk in line.

“We are looking at many factors, including the ability to implement the minimum wage. It is not just for you to say N1m as minimum wage. You don’t make a caricature of a very serious matter. How do you arrive at N1m? You have to look at the ability to pay in line with the ILO (International Labour Organisation) minimum wage fixing conventions. You don’t have all those things on the ground and you are just announcing.

“That is why they (the NLC) couldn’t put their house in order. You find out that different zones came out with different minimum wages. It therefore means that the leadership did not show them the direction.

“When you look at TUC’s own, you will see that we have a direction and that is why our position on the minimum wage is in uniformity.

“However, as time goes on, we will get to the point of looking at our paper and then we will agree on our position.”

When asked if the NLC was in touch with the TUC to resolve their differences, Etim said, “I can tell you for free that nothing like that has happened. At my level in the TUC, a thing like that cannot take place without me being involved.

“Definitely, in the long run, we will come together. Let me also tell you that the mere fact that husbands and wives are quarreling does not prevent the children from eating.”
PUNCH