The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) will commence a nationwide strike on Wednesday, March 10 (today) over the decision by the National Assembly to remove the national minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.
According to the NLC during a media parley with journalists on Tuesday, the protest would hold at the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly and at the National Assembly in Abuja.
It added that the protest would start from the Unity Fountain, Abuja, at 7.30 am to the National Assembly complex.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that a bill seeking to remove the negotiation on minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent list passed the second reading in the House of Representatives on February 23.
According to the sponsor, Garba Mohammed (APC Kano), the bill is to allow both the federal and state governments to freely negotiate minimum wage “with their workers in line with our federalism.”
However, the NLC registered its opposition to the plan, describing the bill as an attempt to undermine Nigeria’s working class.
The invitation read, “The Nigeria Labour Congress and its allies will tomorrow (Wednesday) embark on a nationwide protest against attempts by some elements at the National Assembly to remove the minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list. In Abuja, it will mobilise from the Unity Fountain at 7.30 am to the National Assembly.”
In a communiqué issued at the end of the emergency meeting of its National Executive Council penultimate Tuesday, the NLC said it had empowered the National Administrative Council 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.”
