The Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, has threatened to close the country for a month over proposals by the National Assembly to deregulate the Minimum Wage as the country waits for a new National Minimum Wage.
Speaking on the fringes of the 67th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, NLC President Joe Ajaero emphasized that the minimum wage is a national issue.
Ajaero issued a warning, saying that organized labor would not stand for conditions in which governors collaborating with National Assembly members forced laborers and Nigerian people into poverty and slavery.
“As we are here, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting. They have decided to remove section 34 from the Exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list so that the state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again. You cannot decide what you should earn.
“The very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a law that will not benefit Nigerian workers, they will be their drivers and gatemen, and there will be no movement for one month.
“We cannot accept any situation where the governors and the National Assembly members will foist a slave wage on workers and force poverty on the citizens. Organised Labour will not accept it,” the NLC chairman stated.
