As the deadline for the nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over non-implementation of the new minimum wage approaches, the governments of Kaduna, Nasarawa, Cross River and Katsina states have swung into action to avert the industrial action scheduled to begin on Monday, December 2nd, 2024.
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On Friday, the NLC had directed workers in 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory to proceed on an indefinite strike to demand implementation of the N70,000 new national minimum wage. The affected states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
However, in a bid to prevent the looming strike, top government officials in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Cross River and Katsina states launched into long hours of meetings and negotiations with labour leaders over the weekend.
In Kaduna, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour Matters, Comrade Adamu Samaila, confirmed that the government was holding talks with NLC and TUC leadership to resolve the wage dispute. This comes after the state NLC chairman, Comrade Ayuba Magaji Suleiman, had accused the government of reneging on its commitment to implement the consequential wage adjustments in November.
Cross River state also saw representatives of the government and organized labour meeting in Calabar to negotiate an agreement. The Special Adviser on Labour, Mr. Clarkson Out, said talks were still in progress but labour maintained its readiness to proceed with the strike pending a definitive resolution.
In Nasarawa, Deputy Governor Emmanuel Akabe personally led the government delegation to finalize positions with labour on the minimum wage template. The state had previously attributed the delay to awaiting the report of the implementation committee.
Most significantly, after a marathon 9-hour meeting on Saturday, the Katsina state government and NLC jointly announced that an agreement had been reached to begin payment of the N70,000 minimum wage from December. The Secretary to the State Government said funds for the wage increase had been captured in the 2025 budget.
Meanwhile, in a departure from the national directive, the Oyo and Imo state chapters of NLC said their members would not be joining the strike. Oyo NLC said it was giving more time for completion of the consequential adjustment negotiations while Imo said it had already signed an agreement with the state government.
However, local government workers in the FCT under the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) vowed to fully comply with the strike, citing the non-implementation of the wage and unpaid arrears in area councils.
The Ekiti state government clarified that it had been erroneously included in the list of non-compliant states, as it had already approved the new minimum wage plus consequential adjustments of up to 133% to lower level workers with effect from December 1st. The state NLC chairman corroborated this position.
As the deadline draws near, all eyes remain on the states scrambling to beat the Monday strike date through eleventh-hour dialogue and agreements with organized labour. The coming days will reveal if their efforts are sufficient to keep workers from downing tools as the battle for the “take-home pay” promise reaches a crescendo.
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