NLC hits back at governors over minimum wage saga

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned state governors advocating for the decentralisation of salaries, calling their proposal hypocritical and contradictory to the centralized nature of their own salaries.

This was revealed by NLC President Joe Ajaero during the 112th International Labour Conference in Geneva.

The NLC president argued that if governors want decentralised salaries for workers, they should first accept decentralised salaries for themselves from the Federal Government.

The governors’ proposal, aimed at allowing states to determine salaries based on their financial capabilities and economic realities, has been met with resistance from the NLC, which fears it could lead to disparities in worker wages across the country and undermine national standards for worker welfare.

He said, “Is it the source of payment? Is it coming from their purse? What are they saying, because minimum wage is like having a uniform law in the country?

“Are they now saying give us the right to run a kind of confederate system of government or permission to run a unitary system of government so that whatever we generate we spend it?”

“Let them tell us, we will tell them how and where they can get money from their states. It’s not about waiting on the Federal Government to collect money,” he added.

The Acting Director of Media Affairs and Public Relations of the Governor’s Forum, Halima Ahmed, had, in a statement, said governors could not afford to pay a minimum wage of ₦60,000.

She said implementing such a wage increase would exhaust many states’ monthly allocations from the Federation Account solely on paying workers’ salaries.