The National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has described the opposition by some state governors to the proposed new minimum wage of N30,000 as “distraction”.
It will be recalled that many governors have been expressing their states’ inability to pay the proposed N30,000 minimum wage in meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking on Saturday in Ado Ekiti during the 75th birthday of the former Chairman of the Medical and Health Union of Nigeria (MHUN), Ekiti state chapter, Com. Johnson Ogunseeyin, Wabba described the governors’ position as an afterthought.
He recalled that six governors were represented on the tripartite committee set up by the federal government to discuss the issue of minimum wage and that it took the labour over a year to arrive at a midway wage of N30,000.
“I consider this governors’ position as a trick that was not new to us. There was no agitation about labour that never experienced such, but we consider it an afterthought.
“In case they didn’t know, labour started with a proposal of N66,000, so N30,000 was a midway approach to resolve the crisis. We didn’t just request for it, but we considered the high inflation rate, the poor purchasing power of naira among other variables,” Wabba said.
He added that the celebrant , Com. Ogunseeyin was one of the few patriots and unionists who fought for improved welfare for Nigerian workers.
The occasion was attended by all labour leaders in the state, led by the NLC Chairman, Comrades Ade Adesanmi and Blessing Oladele.
