July 17, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a one-month strike over plans by the National Assembly to deregulate the Minimum Wage.
This is coming, ahead of President Bola Tinubu’s planned meeting on Thursday, with the leaders of organised labour.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 67th Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association Annual General Meeting in Lagos, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, warned lawmakers against the move to remove workers’ wages from the Exclusive to Concurrent list in the Constitution.
According to him, if the lawmakers go ahead with the move, he will mobilise workers to protest against the proposed amendment of the Constitution and shut down Nigeria’s economy for a month.
Ajaero said, “As we are here, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting. They have decided to remove Section 34 from the Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent list so that state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again.
“When they finish that meeting, they will collect minimum wage, I promise all of you that. The very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a law that will not benefit Nigerian workers, they will be their drivers and gatekeepers, and there will be no movement for one month.
“Comrades, I am putting you on standby. If that committee comes up with such a policy, for one month, nobody should come out. They are the major threat to democracy in this country. Democracy is not all about starving and punishing people. That’s not the democracy we fought for.
“They were not there when we fought for this democracy, and now they are trying to make laws to remove the minimum wage from the exclusive list. So, comrades, as I have talked to you here, I have talked to everybody. We are waiting for them to come up with such hypocritical laws. And from today, let them abolish the security vote.”
