The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
has directed state councils to await directive to engage state governors who
fail to meet the Dec. 31 deadline implementation of the minimum wage.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba
said this in a New Year message on Tuesday in Abuja.
Wabba said in the year 2020, the
NLC would mount a very robust campaign for the generation of mass jobs and for
already existing jobs to be decent.
He disclosed that the NLC was
perfecting plans for a National Job Summit in 2020, NAN reports.
Wabba said: “We use this medium
to implore states that are yet to implement the new national minimum wage
including the states that are yet to begin negotiation with labour on the
consequential wage adjustment to speedily do the needful.
“In tandem with our position as
adopted and communicated after a stakeholders’ meeting on Dec. 11, 2019,
organised labour will not guarantee industrial harmony in states that fail to
implement the new national minimum wage by Dec. 31, 2019.
“We direct our state councils to
be on the standby to robustly engage state governments that fail to obey our
laws.
“We wish to remind State
Governors that no excuse would be good enough for failure to pay.
“The ongoing revelations on the
monumental looting perpetrated by former governors prove that only an intent to
loot and deadened conscience, not availability of resources, would be the
reason any Governor would hesitate to pay workers the N30,000 new national
minimum wage and the consequential adjustment in salaries.
“The new national minimum wage is
now a law and State Governors do not have the luxury to choose whether to pay
or not
“Where it will get stakeholders,
experts, policymakers, concerned demographics and workers on a roundtable to
find answers and solutions to Nigeria’s burgeoning unemployment crisis.
“We also commend the states
already paying the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustment in
salaries for assuming the pacesetter status,” he added.
The NLC president said the
congress have resolved to protect, promote and prioritize workers’ and
pensioners welfare as it would be indefatigable.
He also said that the congress
would continue to be the voice for the oppressed and downtrodden.
“We will dare the enemies of
Nigerian workers and people and we will triumph by the grace of God. Nigerian
workers under the leadership of the NLC will continue to work assiduously
towards the promotion of national security, peace and unity.
“We will continue to put the
needed weight on the things that unite us and hold in contempt the things that
seek to divide us.
“We encourage our political
leaders to exemplify the same by their utterances and conduct. By so doing, we
will be laying an enduring foundation for national peace, unity, and
development.”
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