The Organised Labour has commended President Muhammad Buhari for
assenting to the National Minimum Wage Amendment Act approving N30,000
for the least paid worker in the country.
It would be recalled that he bill was passed by the National Assembly in March.
Some of the Labour leaders, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) on Thursday in Abuja described the action as “a way forward.”
Mr Bobboi Kaigama, President Trade Union Congress (TUC) said it was long overdue.
According to Kaigama, ‘we want to appreciate Mr President for
assenting to the Bill on the National Minimum Wage.We also want to use
this opportunity to congratulate Nigerian workers.
“We also want to use this opportunity to tell the Nigerian workers
that the battle for the actualisation of N30, 000 minimum wage is not
yet over.We still have to wait for the template to be release by the
National Salaries and Wages Commission.”
“We want our members to be very calm and await the release of the table and also the consequential increases,” he said.
He, however, said although the battle had been won it was not yet
over, noting that the Federal Government does not have issue in terms of
implementation.
“I want to assure you that the states and local governments will have
issues on the implementation. That is why I said the battle has
started.
“We will begin to hear from states government how they will announce
the implementation and which of the states that will have one obstacle
or the other, and we plan how to confront those governments.
”The Nigerian workers also expect that by May they should start
enjoying the new wage and I am sure the implementation has started from
today and we also start counting the areas from today,” he added.
He said that as the Workers Day approaches, workers were also
expecting the Federal Government to do the needful as it concerns
workers’ welfare.
Also Mr Uche Ekwe, Head of International, Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) commended the President for signing the National Minimum Wage
Bill.
“I say that Nigerian workers are happy about the signing into law the
national minimum wage and we also hope that the state governors will
also do the needful,” he said.
He also noted that the leadership of the NLC will do a formal statement on the implementation by Mr President.
