…rejects N24,000, insists on N30,000
The Nigeria Labour Congress has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, over his alleged misrepresentation of facts on the concluded negotiation for the new minimum wage.
The NLC also demanded the immediate resignation of Ngige for misleading the Federal Government to agree on N24,000, which negated the N30,000 stance of the workforce on the new minimum wage.
Labour, which said that it should be commended for shifting ground from the initial N65,500 to N30,000, therefore rejected the N24,000 being proposed by the Federal Government.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the NLC Chairman in the state, Comrade Akeem Ambali, accused the minister of foul play in the minimum wage negotiation and, therefore, called for his removal by the FG.
Ambali, who said that labour still maintained its stand on the N30,000 minimum wage, said that the NLC only suspended its strike action and never called it off, noting that it was Ngige’s mismanagement of the minimum wage negotiation that led to the strike.
The NLC state chairman, however, alleged that the minister’s decision to have arrived at N24,000 might be a ploy by him to seek revenge against the workers, following the discontinuation of the minimum wage negotiation that led to the strike action.
Ambali said, “We are calling for the resignation of the minister of Labour for misrepresenting facts on the concluded minimum wage negotiation. And if he continues in this manner, he should resign or the Federal Government fires him.
“Labour said it is N30,000; the organised private sector never disputed that. You know he did not want the negotiation to be concluded in the first instance; that was what triggered the industrial action; now that he came up to misrepresent fact, that is why we are calling for his removal or his voluntary resignation.
“We rejected it (N24,000) from that day because that was not even the basis of our negotiation. We concluded negotiation and agreed on N30,000. We don’t know why the minister will be playing around the fact. He misrepresented fact, misled the Federal Government; you know this minister has been behaving in a funny manner and such minister should have been asked to resign.
The Ogun NLC boss further said, “From Labour point of view, negotiation has been concluded. Labour should be commended to have shifted ground from N65,500 to N30,000. Labour shifted ground to ensure that it is feasible, it is implementable, and it is appropriate. But to have even shifted to N30,000 and after the matter have been concluded, the honourable Minister of Labour now behaves in his characteristics manner, and the result of mismanaging the issue of minimum wage led to the strike, in the first instance.”
“The Federal Government is going front and backward. Why can’t they reduce the salaries of all political functionaries? In the same economy where somebody is earning N26million per month and they are saying N24,000, what for? That one cannot stand.
“The government is behaving in a funny manner. They are treating Labour as if they were secondary project for Nigeria. We rejected the N24,000 from the Federal Government and took the same rate at N30,000 .We are waiting for the giant call of the National Secretariat of the NLC. We have suspended the strike, we have not even called it off.” he added.