The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is usually long on activism but short on performance in matters concerning wage reviews. It likes to be seen as totally committed to the cause of poor Nigerian workers but behaves like a toothless bulldog when the government resorts to its usual dilly-dally politics.
Last Monday, the NLC vowed to resist any attempt by the government to slowdown the review of the National Minimum wage. Mr. Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, who made this known at the 40th Anniversary of the Congress in Abuja said the current N18, 000 minimum wage was borne out of the reality of the high cost of living, free fall of the naira and the high cost of goods and services.
He noted that Nigerian workers and other citizens had suffered from increase in taxation, retrenchment from public and private sectors, non- payment of salaries, gratuities and pension, regretting that the government has refused to implement the bargain agreement.
The NLC President said the union has continued to use its platform to demand for a fair, just and equitable political system for Nigerian workers.
When he took the podium at the event, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, stated that the federal government had assured workers in its service that they would begin to enjoy the new minimum wage by the third quarter of this year.
According to the Labour Minister, “there have been overtime three minimum wage reviews and currently the tripartite committee of National Minimum Wage is set to review the current minimum wage. Memoranda are being received from relevant bodies and persons to enable the determination of the minimum wage for the nation, so by the third quarter, a new minimum wage would be announced for the country”.
