Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has directed state councils where the N70,000 new minimum wage is not being fully implemented to begin an indefinite strike from December 1, 2024.
This came as NLC called on the Federal Government to review all perceived anti-people policies lamenting that the policies were forcing Nigerians into destitution.
NLC in a communiqué by its President, Joe Ajaero at the end of its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Port Harcourt Rivers State, also warned that it would not accept a situation where Rivers State workers were made victims of the ongoing political crisis in the state by withholding fund meant for payment of workers’ salaries and other benefits.
The communiqué read: “The NEC notes with deep frustration the persistent delay and outright refusal by some state governments to implement the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.
This betrayal by certain governors and government officials across the country flies in the face of both legality and morality, as workers continue to be denied their rightful wages amidst rising economic hardship.
It is a blatant disregard for the law and the lives of millions of Nigerian workers, who are being exploited by the very leaders sworn to protect them.
The NEC, therefore, resolves to set up a National Minimum Wage Implementation Committee that will among others commence a nationwide assessment, mobilization and sensitization campaign, educating workers and citizens on the need to resist this assault on their dignity and rights.
“Furthermore, the NLC shall initiate a series of industrial actions in all non-compliant states and shall not relent until the minimum wage is fully implemented across Nigeria.
To this end, all state Councils where the National Minimum Wage has not been fully implemented by the last day of November, 2024 have been directed to proceed on strike beginning from December 1, 2024.
Nigerian workers demand justice, and justice they shall have.”
On the worsening economic hardship, “The NEC observes, with profound concern, the accelerating economic hardship inflicted upon Nigerian citizens. Inflation continues to rise unchecked, with the costs of necessities spiralling beyond the reach of the average worker.
“Millions of Nigerians are being driven into destitution, forced to choose daily between feeding their families and seeking healthcare. Access to energy has become a mirage while workers become increasingly poorer even as they work longer hours to meet their other basic needs.
As a result, nutritional diseases like Kwashiorkor and Marasmus have resurfaced in Nigeria.On the growing threats to democracy and workers’ rights, the communiqué said: “The NEC expresses grave alarm at the increasing erosion of democratic norms and blatant disregard for the rights of Nigerian people to freely organize, associate, and express dissent. Arrests, detention and trials on questionable grounds have become the order of the day.
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