ABDULLAHI & DANIEL ETEGHE

LAGOS – INDUSTRIAL crisis appears imminent across the country as Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who is also the chairman of Governors’Forum declared, Tuesday, that many states will not be able to pay the N18,000 minimum wage for workers as passed by the National Assembly recently.

This was just as the organised Labour warned the governors to avoid war with workers by their refusal to pay the minimum wage

Governor Saraki, who spoke with airport correspondents on arrival in Lagos for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, campaign in the state with the Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo, said politics apart, many states will have problems implementing the N18, 000 minimum wage as passed by the National Assembly

Saraki said: “Some states are going to have a lot of challenges with implementing it, not because they don’t want to implement it, not because they don’t believe that workers should have the minimum wage but you know the realities that we are facing, so there will be some states that will have challenges actually.”

While explaining that he is worried like every other Nigerians about the implementation of the minimum wage, Saraki said “I think that very soon there will be a forum that will allow us look at the issue of implementation, but there is no doubt about it except we want to play politics with it.” He added “Look I have two more months to go but I really have to put myself in the shoes and I think that all of us as stakeholders we need to think of the workers and don’t play politics with it. that is my own opinion.”

Organised labour, in its reaction warned state governors against refusing to implement the N18.000 new Minimum wage, to avoid war with organised labour. It said “for social justice, for peace and industrial harmony and to avoid what is happening in North Africa and other parts of the Arab world from happening in Nigeria, the governor must pay”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/03/govs-cant-pay-minimum-wage-saraki/

But they can pay politicians all the unnecessary allowances #SMH

Intrepidone:
But they can pay politicians all the unnecessary allowances #SMH

This is an old news from 2011. I did research on the minimum and its impact on States and stumbled upon a lot of information that needs to be shared. Many States never implemented minimum wage and many Governors tried to explain issues.

Time has CHANGE

Home electronics at prices that is reasonable with the nigerian economy @ mercol Global resources
Call or wthatapp:08027858362 08026889854

http://www.punchng.com/news/governors-labour-at-war-over-minimum-wage/
AUGUST 4, 2012 : NIYI ODEBODE

Organised labour is at war with governors after the state executives called for the abrogation of the National Minimum Wage Act. Northern governors, after their meeting in Abuja last week, had faulted the NMW law, saying each state should be allowed to fix its minimum wage Act. Their southern counterparts, in separate interviews with SATURDAY PUNCH on Thursday, backed the proposal, saying it was against the principle and practice of federalism.

Their position is in line with the decision of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which has repeatedly called for the amendment of the NMW law. But the leadership of the two labour centres in the country – the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress – described the governors’ position on the NMW as selfish.

Calling for the abrogation of theNMW law, the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, said each state should be allowed to pay its workers what it could afford. He stated, “Economic realities are different from one state to the other. States do not earn the same level of revenues both in internally generated revenue and funds coming to them from the Federation Account. Each state should be free to determine what best suits its situation.”

Also supporting the call for the abrogation of the NMW law, the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, said the law was against federalism. He said, “As long as Nigeria is called a federation, states should be allowed to fix the wages of their workers bearing in mind their objective realities. “Ekiti, for instance, is second from the rear in revenue allocation of an average of N2bn monthly and yet it is put under the same yoke of minimum wage with Akwa Ibom State that earns an average of N10bn allocation monthly. This is not only unjust, but oppressive to Ekiti.”

Their Ondo State counterpart, Olusegun Mimiko, said minimum wage should not be the responsibility of the Federal Government. Mimiko, through the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, said, “The indices of revenue accruable to each state should be adopted in fixing workers’ salaries and allowances. It should not be the responsibility of the FG.”

Lagos State also supports the northern governors.The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, told SATURDAY PUNCH on the telephone that the lawmakers must look at every issue to be considered for amendment on its merit. Ibirogba said the state government had never hidden its displeasure on the forcing of the minimum wage on it by the FG. He said, “The reality is that the states are not blessed the same way. So, each state should be able to negotiate with its workers on how much it can afford to pay and other conditions of service. “A situation where the FG will announce a certain amount as the minimum wage will only put pressure on states that cannot afford it.”

On his part, the Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, said his opinion on minimum wage was the same with that of the Northern Governors’ Forum. He stated, “Our revenues are not equal. Our priorities are diverse. Our capacities vary. For instance, Kwara State, with just about N2.4bn federal revenue allocation and with about N800m IGR, currently pays close to N2bn as monthly salaries. “This is exclusive of other recurrent expenditure. What then is left for development? But if the state is allowed to fix its minimum wage, all stakeholders will sit down and agree on what is reasonable and sustainable. “The labour and other stakeholders in the state, including the traditional and religious leaders, will all be involved.”

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State argued that it was wrong to fix a uniform salary structure and minimum wage for states. Every state, he had insisted during the last minimum wage crisis, should be allowed to negotiate its own wage with its workers according to its resource base.

NLC president, Abdulwahed Omar, and his counterpart in the TUC, Peter Esele, however, insisted that there was no country without an NMW.According to them, such a law is necessary to protect Nigerian workers. Omar maintained that the FG had a responsibility to fix a minimum wage to prevent workers from undue exploitation by employers of labour.

He said, “That is their selfish reasoning. Even advanced countries peg a minimum wage. Minimum wage simply means the lowest level of wage that can be paid a worker. “Employers are, however, free to negotiate higher pay with employees but not below. It is simply a safeguard against undue exploitation of workers by mean employers. That is why the responsibility of pegging the minimum wage lies with the FG.”

The TUC president said the governors did not have any option but to obey the existing Minimum Wage Act. He said the tendency to violate existing laws in the country was partly responsible for the drift to anarchy and the culture of impunity in the society. Esele said the organised labour might be compelled to drag governors found to be acting in contravention of the Minimum Wage Act to court. He said, “We will consider the minimum wage issue in our next NEC meeting.

“There is no part of the world you don’t have a minimum wage. Even in the United States, there is minimum wage, that irreducible minimum that must be paid to workers. “For instance, while we have the N18,000 minimum wage to be paid by all employers in the country, any employer who wants to pay more is free to do that.

“Ondo, for instance, pays 22,000; Edo pays 20,000. “We might have to take the governors to court on this issue of minimum wage. They have no respect for the law and that partly contributes to anarchy; if governors can take the laws into their hands, it is unfortunate.” Similarly, the Secretary-General of the TUC, Chief John Kolawole, said the governors were crying wolf over nothing. He challenged them to focus on good governance rather than dwelling on issues that could aggravate the poverty in the land.

He said Nigerians were looking forward to a constitution amendment that would be of beneficial to the citizenry. He accused the governors of going against a law of the land that went through the stipulated legislative processes. He said, “It is inconsiderate of the governors to be proposing such a clause; I believe they must be reacting to the reality on ground.

“Their reaction is much ado over nothing. Before the N18,000 minimum wage, our committee discovered that a lot of organisations were already paying it; so, what is this demand for? “We want an amendment that will be beneficial to all Nigerians. “They should focus on good governance and not issues that would make the people poorer and the wealthy richer. “These people are going against a law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria duly passed by the National Assembly and signed by the President.”

ok