The organised labour in Kwara state, Tuesday issued December 31, the deadline to the state government on the implementation of the new minimum wage.
It declared that industrial unrest could not be guaranteed if its demand to the Kwara state government to constitute a negotiation Committee and implementation of the new N30,000 minimum wage was not met before December 31, 2019.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, and the Joint Negotiating Council, JNC, handed down the warning at a press conference held at the Labour House, Ilorin, the state capital.
Briefing newsmen, the state chairman of NLC, Malam Ali Issa Ore said the state executive of the NLC, has resolved that if the state government “fails to implement the new minimum wage on or before December 31, 2019, the leaders cannot guarantee industrial harmony in the state.”
Malam Ore, who was represented at the meeting by the first Vice-chairman, Comrade Murtala Shaheed Olayinka, alleged that the state government deliberately refused to set up a negotiation that would determine the consequential adjustments of the newly signed wage law.
They claimed that the state government deliberately ignored their letters and various calls for the constitution of the negotiations committee.
“SEC noted that some states have concluded the negotiations process and commenced payment, while some states are presently on negotiations table and about to complete the process of implementation,” Malam Ore stated.
“It is sad that Kwara state is among the few states that have refused to do anything till now despite the directive that all negotiations must be concluded on or before December 31, 2019,” he declared.
The union leaders said that “failure of the state government to accede to the workers’ demands of full implementation of N30,000 minimum wage would lead to an industrial crisis in the state.”
In a swift response, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Tuesday directed the immediate constitution of a government panel to meet with the labour unions in the state to discuss the new minimum wage.
“The Head of Service has been directed to work out the modalities of the panel”, spokesman for the state governor, Rafiu Ajakaye said in a terse statement.
