The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday, embarked on a nationwide protest over the National Assembly’s removal of the national minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.
The Congress had said on Tuesday that the protest will hold in the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly and that the march would begin from the Unity Fountain in Abuja at 7:30 am to the National Assembly complex.
Recall that two weeks ago, the House of Representatives debated on a bill to remove the powers to negotiate wage matters from the exclusive to the concurrent list, after lamenting the inability of state governors to pay the N30, 000 minimum wage.
However, at the end of its emergency National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, NLC vowed to resist “any attempt to exterminate Nigeria’s working class”.
According to a statement signed by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, and the acting General Secretary of the NLC, Ismail Bello, the bill is an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s working class.
The statement read in part, “The NEC decided that there will be a national protest action commencing from March 10, 2021, in the Federal Capital Territory and especially to the National Assembly.
“The NEC decided that should the need arise, it has empowered the National Administrative Council of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike action, especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.”
