The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has instructed workers in 14 states to begin an indefinite strike on Monday over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage and the continued payment of outdated salaries.
President Bola Tinubu in July signed the new Minimum Wage Act into law to increase the minimum monthly salary in the country from N30,000 to N70,000.
This was after the government, the organised labour and the private sector concluded months-long negotiations on the minimum wage when Tinubu haggled down labour’s N250,000/month demand to N70,000/month.
Since the enactment of the new law barely six months ago, only 23 states, excluding Federal Capital Territory(Abuja), have domesticated the law.
In a press statement issued on Friday, NLC said: “Recall that the NEC of 8th November 2024 in Portharcourt directed that industrial action to compel implementation of the new national minimum wage should commence in any state that has not complied by the end of November 2024. This position was reinforced by the CWC in Kano on the 27th of November 2024.
“Flowing from the above it is our information that some states have not commenced the said implementation as workers are still being paid on the old structure and there is no subsisting agreement to show a date of commencement of implementations They are as follows: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Federal Capital Territory, Imo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states.
“We therefore request that you direct your state councils in the following states to proceed on the said needed actions to compel the implementation as resolved by the NEC & CWC.
“Please do oblige us with copies of your letters to your state councils in this regard for effective mobilisation.”
