The Kwara state chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Yekeen Agunbiade, Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to delay his assent to the N30,000 minimum wage bill for Nigerian workers as passed by the National Assembly.
He also declared that workers in the state would not accept less than N30,000 as the new minimum wage
This is even as he said the labour expected governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to fulfil his promise and implement the new wage regime before the expiration of his tenure on May 29 this year, if signed into law by the president.
The NLC chairman stated this while fielding questions from Journalists in Ilorin.
He said though, the new minimum wage regime was long overdue, he however appreciated President Buhari and the entire members of the national assembly for responding to the workers agitation.
He said both the executive and the legislative arms have demonstrated that they are labour friendly.
The labour leader also praised the senate for its recommendation for an immediate review of the present revenue sharing formular among the federal, state and local governments.
According to him, it would guarantee effective implementation of the new minimum wage at the state and local government levels.
Agunbiade said with the approval from both the senate and the House of Representatives, there would be no need for negotiations with employers of labour including state, federal and private sectors.
Speaking on the new minimum wage as it affects workers in Kwara state, the NLC chairman disclosed that even before the approval by the senate, the state governor, had set up a committee with a promise to implement if approved by the federal government.
He said the committee on the new minimum wage would be meeting on Thursday to further deliberate on the matter. Agunbiade assured all civil servants in the state that they would be captured in the new N30,000 wage and expressed the hope that between the end of April and first week of May, this year, workers in the state would jubilate along side with their counterparts across the country.
Agunbiade however, cautioned that workers would not collect any new minimum wage that falls contrary to that of the federal government circular.
