The organised labour has expressed its displeasure with the alleged non-implementation f the new national minimum wage of N18,000 by Kogi and some other states. In his Workers’ Day address at the Eagle Square in Abuja, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, declared that another strike is inevitable over the issue.
Some of the states he named as failing to fulfill their minimum wage obligation in accordance with the law include Kogi, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kwara, Oyo, Kebbi and Adamawa.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) had opposed the new minimum wage claiming that most states could not afford to pay. The governors demanded an increase in revenue allocation to states to enable them cope with the minimum wage burden and it was indeed in the hope of higher revenues that they supported the controversial removal of the purported fuel subsidy. But the workers contended, rightly in our view, that the governors forum was part of the negotiation and, in any case, the minimum wage bill had been signed into law and thereby binding on all.
There is no justifiable reason why any state should still be claiming inability to pay so long after the law came into effect. Besides, given the well publicised, largely outrageous salaries and emoluments of public office holders, it will be pretty difficult to convince anyone that Nigeria cannot afford a minimum wage of N18,000 for workers, which is actually an unrealistic pittance relative to the cost of living. Beyond this, the monumental level of corruption at all levels across the country suggests that the wage obligation to workers can be comfortably met with greater transparency, accountability and responsibility in the management of public funds.
