The last time Nigerian lawmakers attempted to reorder the status of the national minimum wage – whether it should be moved from the exclusive list – was around the first quarter of 2021 and that immediately led to a Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) response in the form of a planned strike.

It looks like repeating acts because NLC’s president, Comrade Joe Ajaero has threatened déjà vu if Senators dare to carry on with the reordering.

Yesterday, at the sidelines of the 67th Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association Annual General Meeting in Lagos, the comrade exposed an ongoing plot in the House of Representatives to give state governments the room to determine what workers in their domain can get as their minimum wage.

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In such a situation, governors who think they should pay salaries based on their income-generation capacity will have their way because even if the federal government sets a high standard for their civil servants in the wage bill, the sub-national can go way low and this is what the labour union is trying to fight.

As we are here, says Comrade Ajaero, a Joint Committee of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Judiciary are meeting.

He told the audience that they [Senators] have decided to remove section 34 from the Exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list so that the state governors can determine what to pay you and so that there will be no minimum wage again. You cannot decide what you should earn.

It will take the country back to Ahmad Lawan as the Chairman of the National Assembly when a move to transfer the minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent list was last considered. If the debate continues, the NLC has promised unprecedented damage like none ever seen.

According to Comrade Ajaero, the very moment the House of Representatives and the Senate come up with such a law that will not benefit Nigerian workers, they will be their drivers and gatemen, and there will be no movement for one month.

We cannot accept any situation where the governors and the National Assembly members will foist a slave wage on workers and force poverty on the citizens. Organised Labour will not accept it.

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC); COMRADE JOE AJAERO AT THE 2024 ANNUAL RAIN SCHOOL OF THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS HOLDING IN UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE. pic.twitter.com/hgRMX5cxX0

— Nigeria Labour Congress HQ (@NLCHeadquarters) July 16, 2024

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Kingsley Chinda, earlier confirmed Comrade Joe Ajaero’s bold declaration. He had said that the National Assembly Committees on Constitutional Review had on their tables, proposals to move the minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent legislative list.

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In NLC’s view, there is no strong basis in the argument that governors have about not being able to pay the ₦250,000 minimum wage they have been asking simply because the disparity in income by state has not affected the administrators, so why not such consideration for the workers?

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.