The president of the Nigeria
Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has said that Governors who feel
they cannot pay the N30,000 minimum wage should resign.
He said such Governors are not
worthy of holding public offices, adding that the consequences of workers
retrenchment will be too grievous for any political office holder.
Speaking in an interview with
Tribune, Wabba stated that Governors should also subject their humongous
salaries and allowances since they want to enslave Nigerian workers.
The Labour leader said that workers
have been educated to vote out any individual or political party that refuses
to pay the new minimum wage.
He said, ‘Since a few of them are
bent on enslaving Nigerian workers with peanuts as salaries, they must subject
their humongous salaries and allowances, which available facts and figures have
shown are among the highest in the world, pro rata with the minimum wage they
want to force down the throats of Nigerian workers.
“Yes, we have insisted that the
governors should go to their respective states and inform workers and their
families of their individual positions on the new national minimum wage of
N30,000.
“They should tell their workers
and their families that they cannot afford N30,000 as their monthly salaries.
“Alhaji Yari should desist from
using the platform of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to seek political relevance.
“His tactics of blackmail against
workers are already timeworn and the stench is already offensive.
“The leadership of the Nigeria
Labour Congress and Organised Labour urge workers to remain steadfast and firm
on our rights to decent wages and improved living conditions. To the
oppressors, we have only one answer for you – we will never sleep on our rights.
“We are now reiterating our
directive to Nigerian workers to vote out any politician or political party
that refuses to pay the new national minimum wage of N30,000.
“We shall continue to consolidate
our efforts to strengthen already existing platforms and structures to give
teeth to our resolve to vote out anti-labour governors and other politicians in
the forthcoming 2019 general election.
“This is why as Organised Labour
and Nigerian workers, we have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to be wary
of some people, especially in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who, because for
their selfish and personal reasons, are presenting him as an anti-worker
president and orchestrating anti-Buhari sentiments in the populace.
“We have also called on him to
speedily transmit the bill on the National Minimum Wage to the National
Assembly for appropriate amendment and implementation.
“Even after the submission of the
report, you heard people like [Governor Nasir] el-Rufai saying that states
should pay what they could afford.
“But he has forgotten that in the
case of the political elites, it is not what they can afford that they are
paying to themselves.
“In fact, they are paying higher
than what is prescribed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
“Most of them are paying higher
than what the commission prescribed for political officeholders. Their
severance package is so humongous; it is not contained in the provision of the
commission.
“We will also follow up on this
argument. It is a national minimum wage, not a state minimum wage. It is under
the Exclusive List of the constitution and as such, no state can go outside of
it to pay ridiculous a salary.
“It will be a violation of the
constitution and we will be ready to take them up. Any governor that cannot
abide by the constitution should step aside.
“If you can’t conform to the
constitution, you should not hold a public office. Holding a public office
suggests that you have sworn to uphold the constitution, so if you violate the
constitution, you are not worthy to hold that public office.
“The threat by the governor of
Zamfara State that the governors would sack workers before they can pay N30,000
national minimum wage cannot be used to intimidate labour. Threat to sack
workers is not new in the struggle for a review of the national minimum wage in
Nigeria.
“However, they must know that the
consequences of workers retrenchment are too grievous for any political
officeholder truly elected by the people to contemplate.
“In any case, we have made it
known that the Governors Forum is illegal. The 1999 Constitution (as amended)
only recognises individual states in the Collective Bargaining Process and not
Nigeria Governors Forum.”
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