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New Minimum Wage: NLC Proposes Sanctions For Defaulting Govs

Published

8 months ago

Apr 22, 2024.

NLC Proposes sanctions on governors failing to implement new minimum wage.
Absence of punitive measures in Minimum Wage Act emboldens state governors, says NLC National Treasurer.
Federal Government committee set to convene to deliberate on minimum wage reports from across Nigeria.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Sunday, indicated its intent to advocate for the inclusion of a clause in the Minimum Wage Act that would impose sanctions on governors and local government administrators failing to implement the new minimum wage.

Hakeem Ambali, the National Treasurer of the NLC, revealed this during an interview with our correspondent in Abuja.

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He emphasized that the absence of punitive measures in the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 has emboldened some state governors to withhold payment of the current minimum wage.

Simultaneously, this online media platform learned that the 37-member committee established by the Federal Government is scheduled to convene this week to deliberate on reports submitted by various sub-committees across the six geopolitical zones.

On January 30, 2024, President Bola Tinubu, represented by his Vice-president, Kashim Shettima, inaugurated the 37-member panel tasked with addressing issues surrounding the new minimum wage.

With its membership cutting across federal, and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel is to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country.

NLC Proposes sanctions

Ambali said, “When we look at the purchasing power in Nigeria, we can see a huge difference between 2019 and now. With the stoppage of the payment of the fuel subsidy, we can see an increase in the hardship of Nigerians.

“In the new minimum wage bill which will soon be signed into law by the President, we have put in some internal clauses to make it difficult for governors not to pay the new minimum wage. It is also good to know that some of the governors are also involved in the negotiation process.

“Labour itself has to be responsive. Once the National Minimum Wage Bill is signed into law juxtaposed with Labour’s responsiveness, we know they will pay. As you can see,0 even private companies have started increasing the salaries of workers and some of them are even paying wage awards for their workers.