The remaining states yet to implement the N70,000 minimum wage for workers are making last-minute moves to ensure the Nigeria Labour Congress does not embark on strike on Monday, December 1.
The states yet to approve the monthly wage are Katsina, Cross River and Zamfara, after the Imo State Government sanctioned the implementation of the N70,000 wage on Tuesday.
It means 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory have now complied with the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.
Many states agreed to pay above the N70,000 starting point with Lagos and Rivers offering the highest pay with N85,000.
Workers in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Oyo and Niger will earn N80,000 while Delta and Ogun states approved N77,000.
Ebonyi, Osun, Benue and Kebbi states approved N75,000; Ondo, N73,000; Kogi and Kaduna, N72,000; Kano and Gombe, N71,000.
Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Borno, Edo, Kwara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Ekiti, Bauchi, Yobe, Imo and Plateau states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, all settled for N70,000.
But despite the NLC’s warnings, trio Katsina, Zamfara and Cross River have yet to implement the new wage, which could lead to a shutdown of activities in the affected states from Monday.
On Monday, labour unions in Cross River, who are demanding a new wage of N70,000 from the state government, directed state civil servants to embark on a two-day warning strike over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage.
The warning strike was signed by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
This followed a staged walkout from a scheduled meeting held on November 18 with state government officials, who formed members of the wage implementation committee at the office of the state’s Head of Service, Innocent Eteng, in Calabar, the state capital.
According to the labour leaders, last week, when the committee sat for the first time, the meeting ended in a stalemate when they perceived delayed tactics by the government to postpone the meeting to January.
The state’s civil servants said they were utterly disappointed when Governor Bassey Otu announced a new minimum wage of N40,000 on May 1, during the International Workers Day celebration at the U.J Essueine Stadium in Calabar.
Otu said that due to the state’s lean resources, caused by the statutory federal allocation aggravated by the unfavourable state Gross Domestic Product, the new minimum wage of N40,000 would be in line with realities rather than sentiments.
While giving instances of Edo, Lagos, Rivers and other governors, the workers said they were of high hope before the unexpected announcement of N40,000.
The strike action, which was signed by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, was set to commence from November 24 midnight to 26, 2024.
The Cross River State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Gregory Ulayi, toild The media that the union would embark on an indefinite strike if the state government failed to implement the new minimum wage for the workers.
He noted that the two-day warning strike was embarked upon by workers in the state between Monday and Tuesday, which he described as a call to action to the government.
Ulayi said that after the two-day warning strike, all workers were mandated to return to work as they waited to hear from the state government.
“If the government does not negotiate and do the needful, we will embark on a total strike because it is a directive across the country,” Ulayi said.
However, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Otu, Nsa Gill, told newsmen that the state government had set up a committee to negotiate with the labour leaders, as part of last-ditch efforts to prevent the looming strike on Monday.
He said that despite the nationwide deadline for the implementation of the minimum wage, the Otu-led government was working to ensure payment of a minimum wage of N70,000 or even above.
“The state government has a negotiating team and they are at work. Though, they are yet to reach an agreement as at today (Thursday). The government is ready to pay the N70,000 new minimum wage, if not beyond,” he stated.
“We recognise the fact that there is a national deadline from the labour union, which is slated for December 1, 2024, for all the states to pay the new minimum wage.
“We are trying to see how to build a stronger economic foundation that can make us pay a living wage to our civil servants. Until the team finishes the negotiation, the amount will not be announced. Right now, they are still on the negotiation table for an amicable resolution.”
Katsina State is also likely to face labour’s wrath after its failure to implement the compulsory new wage bill for the state workers.
Multiple sources in the NLC secretariat in Katsina, the state capital, said the state was yet to approve the payment.
The Katsina State Government , last month, inaugurated a 15-member committee to guide the implementation of a new minimum wage of N70,000.
Deputy Governor Faruk Lawal, while inaugurating the committee, said the government was aware of the hardship being faced by civil servants in the state.
“You are all aware that His Excellency, the Governor, Mallam Dikko Umar Radda, has set up a committee to implement the N70,000 minimum wage consequential adjustment to all categories of workers in the state.
“This includes the state civil servants, the Local Government employees and other categories of workers. The government is aware of the hardship being encountered by the civil servants,” he stated.
Led by Secretary to the State Government, Abdullahi Faskari, the committee was given three weeks to present strategies and recommendations, including the consequential adjustments for all categories of workers.
