As the federal government and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are yet to agree on the lingering national minimum wage, the NLC has threatened to stage a one-month protest that would shut down the country over alleged plans by the National Assembly to deregulate the Minimum Wage.
President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, who gave the threat when he spoke on the sideline of the 67th Annual General Meeting, AGM, of the congress in Lagos on Tuesday, insisted that minimum wage is a national issue.
Ajaero warned that organized labour would not accept a situation where governors working with the members of the National Assembly would impose slave wage and poverty on workers and Nigerian citizens.
According to the NLC President: “As we are here, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting. They have decided to remove section 34 from the Exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list so that the state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again. You cannot decide what you should earn.
“The very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a law that will not benefit Nigerian workers, they will be their drivers and gatemen, and there will be no movement for one month.
“We cannot accept any situation where the governors and the National Assembly members will foist a slave wage on workers and force poverty on the citizens. Organized Labour will not accept it” the NLC president warned