Organized Labour Calls On Federal Government To Implement The New Minimum Wage

The Labour Union of Nigeria has implored all state governors to put into practice the new National Minimum Wage that was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 18.

This was stated by Dr. Nasir Idris, who served as the President of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, at a pre-workers day sensitisation rally in Abuja yesterday.

The rally which was tagged “March for Jobs, Labour Rights and Shared Prosperity,” was organised by both unions of NLC and the TUC.

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According to Dr Idris, “we are calling on the governors to put machinery in place to ensure that they implement the N30,000 minimum wages for workers in the country.

“The NLC and TUC will not condone any governor that failed to implement it for his workers.

“We want to assure workers that any governor that refused to implement the new minimum wage for workers, we are going to make the state unbearable for him.

“We will do anything humanly possible and we are going to use our might and strength to ensure that they implement that minimum wage,’’ he explained.

Mr Idris also called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration to begin the implementation of the new minimum wage in earnest.

See More: We Will Make Sure All Governors Implement The N30,000 New Minimum Wage — NLC

Also speaking at the event was the Deputy President of the NLC, Mr. Najeem Yashin, who mentioned that the purpose of the rally was to sensitise workers on the purpose of Workers Day celebration and why they needed to come out en masse to celebrate all last heroes of labour and themselves.

The deputy present explained that the movement is also a medium to call on both the Federal and State government to ensure that the total and immediate implementation of the new minimum wage.

“We will also be calling on the federal government to create more jobs for our teeming youth in the country,‘’ he added.

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The event also had in attendance the President of the Civil Service Union of Nigeria, Mr. Lawrence Amechi, who said the march in Abuja was important because of the recent suspension of the May Day Symposium.

“The march is important because we have suspended May Day Symposium; so, we decided to do this march so that many of our people will be aware that we want them to come out en masse on May 1.

“We have decided to go round Abuja to awaken workers consciousness, which is what we have done today and we are happy that the turnout is very impressive. We also want to use this opportunity to urge the state governors to immediately start the implementation of the minimum wage.

“Because President Muhammadu Buhari has signed it into law on April 18, and the effective day is April so we are already in arrears of few days.

“So, by the end of May, we expect that every worker will go home with the salary, in fact, most of the problem that we are having are with the state governors and we have asked them to cut down their excesses and pay the new wage,‘’ he said.

Mr Amechi, also mentioned that any state governor who refuse to pay the new wage should be ready to face the full wrath of the union.

“So, by the end of May, if no governor has paid the minimum wage and the arrears cumulatively, it is going to be war between labour and that particular government and we hope that they will do the needful,‘’ he explained.

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