By Emmanuel Mogbede, Emmanuel Oloniruha
(Abuja); Chinyere Bassey (Lagos)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the signing into law of N30,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers by President Muhammadu Buhari is another election promise delivered.
Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC National Publicity Secretary, made the assertion in a statement on Friday in Abuja, while commending Buhari for signing the new minimum wage bill into law.
Also reacting to President Buhari’s endorsement of the law, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) on Friday said the new minimum wage would give workers a sense of belonging.
But sounding a note of warning, former Minister of Information and chieftain of the APC, Prince Tony Momoh said the new law, assented to by Buhari on April 18 would lead to chaos as many states would not be able to pay.
APC’s Issa-Onilu said: “Truly, our workers deserve a new, improved and implementable minimum wage in view of current economic realities.
“Commendably, the welfare of workers has remained a top priority of the Buhari-led APC administration,” he said.
The APC spokesman said that this has been demonstrated by the Federal Government’s bailouts to states to pay workers salary and housing schemes for civil servants among other welfare packages in 2018.
Issa-Onilu congratulated stakeholders that ensured the achievement of this laudable feat, particularly the National Assembly, state governors, the Amma Pepple-led tripartite committee, labour and trade unions and indeed Nigerian workers.
“The signing of new minimum wage is another solid demonstration of a President who matches his words with actions,” he said.
The APC spokesman recalled that Buhari had severally assured of a new and improved national minimum wage for workers.
“The assent of the N30,000 minimum wage by the president is indeed another election promise delivered,” Issa-Onilu said.
The TUC in a statement by its President, Bobboi Kaigama, and Secretary General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, commending President Buhari for signing the minimum wage bill into law said that the organised labour appreciated the approval of the new wage, but that its gains had been eroded by inflation as prices of commodities had gone up when employers had not commenced receiving the new wage.
“The N30, 000 monthly National Minimum Wage that we are asking for a family of six amounts to less than N50 per meal per person. It is exclusive of utility bills, school fees and many others.
“Given our extended family system as Africans, we are also expected to assist parents, in-laws, relations and friends who have lost their jobs,” the TUC said.
It called on the 9th Assembly to prevail on governors to pay workers their salaries and pension to pensioners as and when due to avoid crisis in the industrial sector.
The TUC said it appreciated the Federal Government, lawmakers and Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for seeing reason with workers.
Meanwhile, expressing fears over the implementation of the new law, Prince Momoh, at a press conference, one of the activities marking his 80th birthday, said that while he is happy over the new wage, he holds the view that it will lead to a situation where many states will not be able to pay and this will lead to industrial unrest and strikes.
“Minimum wage is not a living wage. My prediction is that the N30, 000 minimum wage will cause chaos because many state governments that were paying N7, 500 before N18, 000 was introduced could not pay then.
“A lot of them are currently finding it difficult to pay N18, 000 now. They are already saying they can’t pay and this will lead to strikes. When that happens, the nation is in trouble.
“The N30, 000 minimum wage is not a living wage. What is the percentage of the workers in Nigeria that are entitled to the N30, 000 minimum wage? What is the percentage of the public servants compared to the percentage of the entire working population in Nigeria?”
Buhari signed into law the Minimum Wage Repeal and Re-Enactment Act 2019 on Thursday.
By this act, the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers is now N30,000 monthly.
All employers of labour across the country with at least 25 workers are mandated by the law to pay their workers a minimum of N30,000 monthly wage.
The National Assembly had submitted the minimum wage Bill to the President since March 27.
The Bill approving N30,000 as the new national minimum wage was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly before they went on break for the 2019 general election.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other trade unions had in 2018 insisted on an upward review of the monthly wage of Nigerian workers which was N18, 000 before now.
The NLC had used various means, including dialogue and calling for strike to get the federal government and other stakeholders to see reason why the wage of the Nigerian worker needed to be reviewed upward.
