Minimum wage: Compel defaulting states to pay workers, NLC tells FG

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the federal government to compel state governments that are yet to implement the N30,000 national minimum wage to do so without further delay.

According to NAN, Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, said this on Saturday at the 110th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ILC, sometimes known as the world parliament of labour, is the largest international gathering dedicated to the world of work, and attended by representatives of governments, employers and workers from the 187 International Labour Organisation (ILO) member states.

Wabba was giving an update on issues affecting Nigerian workers to the ILO committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations.

According to the organisation, once a country has ratified an ILO convention, it is required to report regularly on the measures it has taken for its implementation.

The NLC boss said four states in Nigeria have not started paying the N30,000 minimum wage to its employees since the bill on the matter was signed into law in April 2019.

“In 2019, the minimum wage was enacted, but as I speak, four states have not implemented it and they are Taraba, Zamfara, Cross River and Abia,” Wabba said.

“They have not commenced the implementation of the minimum wage and this is an infraction on the law.

“So, under the convention, the Nigerian government has the obligation to compel those states to implement this very important convention because we have ratified it.”

Wabba said under the ILO constitutional requirements, Nigeria as a country must report progress made so far on the ratified convention to the committee of experts.

He said Taraba, Cross River, Zamfara and Abia have violated the law and the convention.

“The Nigerian government needs to call them to order and ask them to implement the national minimum wage for workers in those states,’’ he added.