Nigeria Labour Congress Mobilises For Strike In Katsina, Zamfara, Cross River Over Non-Implementation Of Minimum Wage

Three state governments that are yet to implement the N70,000 new national minimum wage for workers are holding last-minute talks with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to avert the strike scheduled for Monday, December 1, by the labour union.

While several states have approved and commenced the implementation of the new national minimum wage for their workers, Katsina, Cross River, and Zamfara states are yet to approve and implement the payment of the minimum wage to workers in their states.

This therefore means that 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have now complied with the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.

Several states, including Lagos and Rivers, have agreed to pay above the N70,000 threshold, with Lagos offering the highest wage at N85,000.

Workers in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Oyo, and Niger states will earn N80,000, while Delta and Ogun states have approved N77,000. Other states like Ebonyi, Osun, Benue, and Kebbi have set the minimum wage at N75,000; Ondo at N73,000; Kogi and Kaduna at N72,000; and Kano and Gombe at N71,000.

Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Borno, Edo, Kwara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Ekiti, Bauchi, Yobe, Imo, Plateau, and the FCT have agreed to N70,000.

However, despite the NLC’s warnings, Katsina, Zamfara, and Cross River are still yet to implement the new wage, the labour union has scheduled strike from Monday in the three states.

In Cross River, labour unions are demanding the N70,000 wage and have called for a two-day warning strike on Monday, November 24.

The strike was organised by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) after a meeting on November 18 with the state government’s wage implementation committee ended in a deadlock.

The unions were dismayed by Governor Bassey Otu’s announcement on May 1 that the new wage would be set at N40,000, citing the state’s financial constraints.

Meanwhile, workers in the state had hoped for a higher wage, as seen in other states like Edo, Lagos, and Rivers.

Gregory Ulayi, the NLC Chairman in Cross River, said that the union would proceed with an indefinite strike if the state government does not implement the N70,000 wage.

He described the two-day warning strike as a call to action, stressing that if negotiations fail, the union would escalate the protest to a full strike.

But the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Otu, Nsa Gill, responded by stating that the state government had formed a committee to negotiate with labor leaders in a final attempt to avoid the strike.

He confirmed that the state government was working towards implementing the N70,000 wage, with the possibility of going above that figure.

In Katsina, the state government has yet to implement the wage despite forming a 15-member committee to handle the process.

The committee, which includes labour representatives, has been tasked with determining the exact number of workers and calculating the financial implications. .

Negotiations are still ongoing, and it remains uncertain whether the wage will be approved by the December 1 deadline.

Similarly, Zamfara’s government has claimed to have made progress in its efforts to implement the N70,000 wage.

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dauda Lawal, Mustafa Jafaru Kaura, reportedly said that the state had set up a committee to work out the implementation details and would announce the wage once the committee completes its tasks.

Kaura assured that Zamfara workers would receive the new wage soon, highlighting the governor’s commitment to improving civil servant salaries, noting that he had previously increased the state’s wage from N18,000 to N30,000.