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Minimum wage: Don’t let NGF’s stance deceive you, labour tells Buhari

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Labour leaders on Saturday repeated their advice to President Muhammadu Buhari not to be misled by some governors on the new minimum wage of Nigerian workers .Speaking during a working visit to Ado Ekiti , the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress , Mr Ayuba Wabba , said there was no going back on the amount submitted to the Federal Government by labour .

He described the threat by governors that paying N 30 , 000 as minimum wage would result in retrenchments as a mere distraction by the governors on the issue.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that labour and the governors have been at odds , following the persistent demand by the former that public sector workers in Nigeria should be paid a “ decent wage ’’ .

Wabba noted that labour was determined more than ever before to ensure that workers received decent pay , urging unions nationwide to remain resolute in their wage increase demands .

The labour chief , who was in Ado Ekiti to attend the 75 th birthday celebration of a former Chairman of the

Ekiti State Chapter of the Medical and Health Union of Nigeria , Mr Johnson Ogunseeyin , described the governors ’ position as reckless and heartless .

“ I consider the governors ’ position as a trick that is not new to us . There is no agitation by labour that never experienced such . So , we consider their position as an afterthought .

“ In case they didn ’ t know , labour started with a proposal of N 66 , 000 . So N 30 , 000 was a midway approach to resolve the crisis .

“ We didn ’ t just request for it , we considered the high inflation rate , the poor purchasing power of Naira among other variables .

“ While we commend about six governors for saying they will pay N 30 , 000 minimum wage , we challenge those saying they can ’ t pay to go to their states and tell workers and pensioners that they can ’ t pay .

“ This agitation started in November last year , even when the review was supposed to take place in 2016 . The governors were asked to send memoranda and only 21 states complied.

“ We want to tell the governors that we won ’ t succumb to their antics . We will receive nothing less than N 30 , 000 minimum wage for our people and we have directed workers to vote out any governor or his

a successor , who says he is not ready to pay , ’’ said the labour leader .

( NAN )

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