A move to transfer the National minimum wage from the Exclusive legislative list to the Concurrent legislative list by the National Assembly has been challenged nationwide by the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC and the Trade Union Congress TUC.
At the Rally in Kaduna state, the State Chairman of NLC Comrade Ayuba Suleiman said the bill if allowed, would be a threat to labour organizations and workers.
In Plateau state, during a protest convened by the organized labour, the Chairman NLC represented by the Deputy Comrade Sunday Akinfolarin and that of TUC represented by the State Secretary Abubakar Abubakar noted that the actions if taken would cripple the labour force in the State.
The organized Labour marched to the Plateau state House of Assembly and presented a letter to the Speaker Abok Ayuba.
Also, in Anambra state, the union says it is still negotiating with government over the total implementation of the approved 30,000 naira National Minimum Wage.
The NLC Chairman in the State, Comrade Jerry Nnubia, made this known in Awka while addressing protesters on the proposed plan to remove the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive list to the concurrent list of the Nigeria constitution.
The union later submitted a position letter to the state house of Assembly.
In Delta State, workers temporarily shut down Asaba, the state capital. Hundreds of workers and civil society groups marched on major streets with placards with inscriptions such as “President Buhari, No Room for Fifth Columnists, Stand with Nigerian workers keep minimum wage on the exclusive list,” Removing National Minimum wage from Executive List Is a Declaration of War on Nigerian Workers,” “National Minimum Wage Is Our Right.Don’t Decentralise Minimum Wage” , “WAGE THEFT, Crime Against Workers, Crime Against Humanity”.
In Bauchi, the NLC Chairman Danjuma Saleh says the move to transfer the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list is an affront to the legitimate workers’ rights.
He described the planned removal as a declaration of war on Nigerian workers by the National Assembly.
Bauchi State House of Assembly Speaker Abubakar Suleiman pledged to mobilise his colleagues against the bill.
Labour unions in Lagos State also staged a peaceful protest against the planned removal of the minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.
Similarly, during the rally in Kwara said the state government violated Labour law with the implementation carried out without a signed agreement with the labour.
The labour movement recalled that the state government had said it can only pay officials between levels 1 to 6 .
It also described the minimum wage paid to the workers in the state as take away, adding that it had no payment table showing how the increment was done.
Cov /Banabas Hunjo, Shindong Bala, Uche Ndeke, Ali Rabiu,
