Minimum wage: Reduce reckless expenses, pay N30,000, NLC tells govs

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Thursday attacked the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for saying that there would be economic crisis in Nigeria if President Muhammadu Buhari went ahead to present an executive bill on N30, 000 minimum wage to the National Assembly as demanded by organised labour.

A governor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the NGF, had claimed that 30 states would be affected adversely by the new minimum wage, stressing that the wage should be pegged at N22, 500.

The governor had said, “Now, if the President goes ahead to send a bill that will contain N30,000 to the National Assembly without considering what we have told him, there will be crisis in the country. We will wait to see what will happen. I’m sure that the National Assembly will not pass the bill this year.”

But in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH correspondent in Abuja on Thursday, NLC’s Head of Information and Public Affairs, Mr Benson Upah, said the governors were not being fair to President Buhari’s intention and Nigerian workers.

According to him, the governors would do Nigeria a great favour if they cut down on their financial excesses that were not accounted for.

The PUNCH, January 11, 2019

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