The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has announced that workers in 14 states will begin an indefinite strike starting on Monday due to the failure to implement the new minimum wage and the continued payment of old salaries.
In July, President Bola Tinubu signed the new Minimum Wage Act into law, raising the minimum monthly salary from N30,000 to N70,000.
This followed several months of negotiations between the government, organised labour, and the private sector, during which Tinubu negotiated down labour’s demand of N250,000 per month to N70,000.
However, despite the law being enacted nearly six months ago, only 23 states, excluding the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), have domesticated the law.
In a statement issued on Friday, the NLC reminded that the National Executive Council (NEC) had, on November 8, 2024, in Port Harcourt, directed that industrial action should begin in any state that had not implemented the new wage by the end of November 2024.
This directive was reinforced by the Central Working Committee (CWC) on November 27, 2024, in Kano.
The NLC stated: “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.”
The NLC further urged: “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.”
