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Tag: Governors

  • Oshiomhole reacts to governors’ refusal to pay N30,000 minimum wage

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Thursday insisted that Nigeria can afford living wage for workers.

    He said non payment of salaries by governors creates a viscious circle leading to low production and eventual loss of jobs.

    Oshiomhole said as a governor, he told his colleagues that payment of salaries was no burden, but a means of enhancing the development potential of the state, adding that the country’s major problem is stealing of public resources in the name or salary payment.

    The former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president spoke on a television programme.

    He said: “My views are clear, that payment of wages is not an act of kindness for an employer to pay the employees’ wages at the end of the month… Even the Holy Bible says that the laborer is entitled to its wages.

    “I think, again, this is where President Buhari stands out clearly. He has publicly asked public sector employers; how do you sleep when you have not paid your employers for one year. But he did not stop at lamenting it, he went on to provide the much- talked about bailout fund and said, ‘please use this money to pay your workers and pay pension arears.

    “And even the deductions from states that was done under the PDP in the name of settling our foreign debts, they went into state treasury and they over deducted; that was done under the PDP. But under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, even inspite of the huge financial challenges that he faces, decided that in order to assist the states to meet up with their social obligations, to begin to pay what is now referred to as Paris Club refund.

    “He has done that two, three instalments and each time the governors are told that you must use this money, among other things to settle pension arrears and be up to date in the payment of salaries.

    “But I am very proud that this President has rich conscience, he recognises that the Nigerian worker deserves his wages and that is why he has publicly lamented that there are governors who have not paid salaries as at when due, whether they are PDP or APC, it is immaterial. And in seeking to deal with it he has also provided support across party divide and I think that is statesmanship at its best.

    “As for my views on the minimum wage, I tried to deal with it as a governor. I told my colleagues then that wage is not a burden in the society. In economics, when people work and get paid, purchasing power is enhanced and because purchasing power is enhanced producers will respond to that by seeking to produce more goods and services. And in the process they will recruit more hands.

    “. My being in government or now chairman of a party cannot change what I believe in.

    “The real problem in the public sector is money being stolen in the name of salaries, I find it embarrassing when we talk about ghost workers. And I ask the question, who counts ghosts. It is only in Nigeria that ghosts are known.”

  • 2019: Vote out governors that refuse to pay N30,000 minimum wage, NLC tells workers

    The organised labour on Thursday directed workers to vote out governors who do not implement payment of the N30,000:00 new minimum wage in their respective states.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) specifically condemned threats by the govermors to sack workers should the new wage come into effect.

    To NLC President Ayuba Wabba, the threat is not new in the struggle for review of the national minimum wage.

    He said workers might be prevailed upon not to vote for governors who fail to pay the new wage.

    “Therefore, the current one by the governor of Zamfara (Abdulaziz Yari) cannot be used to intimidate labour,” Wabba said in a statement, reiterating the directive that workers should vote out anti-labour governors and politicians.

    “The consequences of workers’ retrenchment are too grievous for any political office holder truly elected by the people to contemplate.

    “Few political office holders are bent on enslaving Nigerian workers with peanuts mislabelled as salaries.

    “We urge such elected public officials to subject their humongous salaries and allowances, reputed to be among the highest in the world to public perusal. Pro rata with the minimum wage, they want to force down the throats of Nigerian workers,” he said.

    Wabba urged each of the governors to go to their state and inform workers on their individual position on the new national minimum wage of N30, 000.

    ”To the oppressors, we have only one answer for you, we will never sleep on our rights.

    “We hereby reiterate our directive to Nigerian workers to vote out any politician or political party that refuses to pay the new national minimum wage of N30, 000.

    “We shall continue to consolidate our efforts to strengthen already existing platforms and structures to give teeth to our resolve to vote out anti-labour governors and politicians in the forthcoming 2019 general election, ‘’Wabba said.

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to speedily present to the National Assembly the bill on the National Minimum Wage for appropriate amendment and implementation.

    “It would interest Nigerians to know that the new national minimum wage of N30,000 was a product of intense and robust negotiations at the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiation Committee that lasted for one year.

    “At the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiation Committee, state governments were represented by six states, one state from each of the six geo-political zones.

    The statement added: “The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) recognises individual states in the Collective Bargaining Process not Nigeria Governors Forum. The states, like the other social partners, have already defended their positions during negotiations at the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Negotiation Committee vis-à-vis counter proposals.

    “Alhaji Yari should desist from using the platform of the Nigeria Governors Forum to seek political relevance. His tactics of blackmail against workers is already time worn and the stench is already offensive.

    “We hereby reiterate our directive to Nigerian workers to vote out any politician or political party that refuses to pay the new national minimum wage of N30,000. We shall continue to consolidate our efforts to strengthen already existing platforms and structures to give teeth to our resolve to vote out anti-labour governors and politicians in the forthcoming 2019 general election.

  • BREAKING: We can’t pay N30k minimum wage, it will lead to bankruptcy -Nigerian governors

    *Expect retrenchment, governors warn labour

    Nigerian governors have said they cannot afford to pay workers a minimum wage of N30,000 unless the organised labour wants its members to be sacked.

    The governors at their emergency meeting in Abuja on Wednesday night, asked the Federal Government to also accede to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.

    The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum who is also the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, who read the communiqué after the meeting, said that a new committee would be raised to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the issue.

    He said the committee would work out another formula towards quickly resolving the problem associated with the proposed minimum wage.

    Yari said, “Following a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum where we deliberated on the national minimum wage, governors resolved to re-strategise and put together another committee to meet with the President once again, to work out another formula towards quickly resolving the problem associated with the proposed N30.000 minimum wage which is impracticable unless labour agrees to a downsizing of the workforce all over the country or the Federal Government itself accedes to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.

    “Members of the committee who were nominated to see the President include the governors of Lagos, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi. Enugu and Kaduna.”

    The federation account is currently being managed on a legal framework that allows funds to be shared under three major components – statutory allocation, Value Added Tax distribution; and allocation made under the derivation principle.

    Under statutory allocation, the Federal Government gets 52.68 per cent of the revenue shared; states, 26.72 per cent; and local governments, 20.60 per cent.

    The framework also provides that Value Added Tax revenue be shared thus; FG, 15 per cent; states, 50 per cent; and LGs, 35 per cent.

    Similarly, extra allocation is given to the oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.

    Yari said that he and his colleagues had seen the report of the Tripartite Committee report presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The committee, which is headed by Amal Pepple, recommended N30, 000 as minimum wage.

    Though the President received the report, he however said that he was still studying it.

    Yari said that the committee did not consider the submission of the governors who had earlier said they could only afford to pay N22, 500 as minimum wage.

    He said, “We have seen what has been presented to the President by the (Tripartite) Committee.

    “As a member of the committee, our representative there said the committee did not take our submission of N22,500 because it came late.

    “I am surprised. How can you do this without the input of the states because the states are the key stakeholders in this business.

    “So, a situation whereby our report was not taken or considered by the Tripartite Committee … then I don’t know how the committee wants us to work.”

    He regretted that while the governors would want to pay, they would not be able to do so due to meagre resources available to them.

    He said “But we still say we want to pay, but the issue is the ability to pay.

    “If we say no, it is not about the ability to pay, just pay, I don’t know how this formulae will work and I don’t know how we can get a solution to the issue.

    “We are paying N18,000 (as minimum wage today), but when the President assumed office, about 27 states were not able to pay, not that they chose not to pay.

    “So, now you say N30,000, how many of them can pay? We will be bankrupt (if we pay). So as Nigerians, we should look at the issues seriously.

    “While other people are saying that governors are riding jets and living in affluence, that one is not luxury but compulsory.

    “Like Lagos that is paying about N7bn as salaries; if you say it should pay N30,000, now it will be N13bn.

    “From our calculation, it is only Lagos State that will be able to pay N30,000. As Nigerians, this is our country; there is no other country we have and we should be fair to this country.”

    He said governors would continue to dialogue with workers on the need for them (the workers ) to see the difficulties they (governors ) were facing.

    He said, “As for the way forward, we will continue to talk with Labour. Let them see reasons and difficulties some of us have.

    “For instance, the money Lagos State is using to pay is not coming from Abuja.

    “They have a way of getting their money from the IGR and that is why they can afford to pay. They get money through VAT (as well).

    “Apart from Lagos, even Rivers State cannot afford to pay. So we have been crying out about this since 2011 but no one will listen.

    “One critical example is that some states ration their salaries while some others put everything they earn on the table and ask labour to come and see and ask them to suggest how much should go for capital and personnel costs.

    “Some say 70 per cent for personnel cost and 30 per cent for capital projects and yet the states cannot pay and they put the remaining as outstanding.”

    He said it was wrong to use the price of crude oil in the international market to determine the minimum wage.

    Yari said, “So, let us look at this matter seriously to see how we can do it properly. It is our primary responsibility to see that everybody is happy.

    “It is the same labour that is pushing for the N30,000 that will still turn around to say that the governors did not do any infrastructure and how are we going to achieve that by paying only salaries?”

  • Strike: ASUU accuses govs of politicising activities at state varsities

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, has accused state governors of politicising academic activities in public universities.

    The zone lamented that state universities had suffered political interferences which, it said, had affected the schools.

    The Zonal Chairman, Prof Fred Esumeh, in a statement on Thursday, also decried the alleged poor funding of tertiary education.

    According to Esumeh, education remains “a public good”, adding that the development of any nation depends on its investment in the education sector.

    He said, “The resumption of the strike embarked upon in September 2017 by our union was meant to ensure the survival of public universities in Nigeria.

    “In most state universities, activities have been politicised to the detriment of academic excellence and culture. The resumption of the nationwide strike is as a result of government’s failure to keep to an agreement it willingly entered into and government’s insincerity.”

  • Minimum wage: NLC dares Buhari, governors, insists on November 6 nationwide strike

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has charged its members to continue to mobilize in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November if recommendations of the Tripartite Committee are not adopted.
    President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba gave the charge at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.
    Comrade Wabba reiterated that any figure below N30,000 will not be accepted by the organised labour union.
    According to him, We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of 23rd October, 2018 that any figure below N30,000 will not
    be accepted by us. We call on our members to continue to mobilize in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November, 2018, if by then necessary steps have not been taken to adopt the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee.
    Reacting to claims by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) that it can only pay N22,500 as the New Minimum Wage, Wabba noted that the Forum is not a negotiating body but a mere political organisation for the convenience of state governors.
    He explained that the organised labour’s demand was initially N66,500 but a compromised figure of N30,000 was arrived at the end of negotiations last year by the Tripartite partners that comprises of Government, Employers and Organized Labour.
    “The new minimum wage was a product of intense negotiations that lasted for almost one year”, Wabba added.
    The Labour Union therefore condemned the communique issued by the Nigeria Governors Forum on October the 30th stressing that it is an attempt to undermine the authority of President Muhammadu Buhari.
     

  • JUST IN: NLC rejects governors’ N22,500 minimum wage, insists on N66,500

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday rejected N22,500 adopted by governors as the minimum wage their states can pay.

    Recall that the 36 governors met on Tuesday and adopted N22,500 as the new minimum wage.

    This is despite the NLC and other labour unions insisting they had agreed with the government to accept N30,000 minimum wage after extensive deliberations.

    The position of the state governors appears to have angered the NLC whose president, Ayuba Wabba, on Wednesday told journalists that workers would now demand N66,500 minimum wage.

    “The demand of Organised Labour is not N30,000; our demand is N66,500,” Mr Wabba said at the conference.

    The NLC and other labour unions had earlier threatened to commence strike by November 6 if the government does not accept the N30,000 minimum wage.

    “We wish to reiterate our position adopted at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of 23 rd October, 2018 that any figure below N30,000 will not be accepted by us.

    “We call on our members to continue to mobilise in preparation for the commencement of an indefinite strike on the 6th of November, 2018, if by then necessary steps have not been taken to adopt the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee,” he said.

    More details later…

  • New Minimum wage: Governors bow to pressure, agree to pay N22,500

    The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Tuesday agreed to pay a national minimum wage of N22,500 from the existing N18,000.

    The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’aziz Yari disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the end of its 2nd emergency meeting held in Abuja.

    Yari said that the decision was arrived at after a briefing from the forum representatives at the Tripartite Committee.

    He said that the welfare of all Nigerians is the ultimate concern of the governors, saying in all our states, we are concerned about the deteriorating economic situation experienced by the vulnerable segment of our population.

    He said that in agreeing to a National Minimum Wage, the Forum was even more concerned about development, particularly in the health, education and infrastructure spheres.

    “It is therefore our considered position that since the percentage of salaried workers is not more than five per cent of the total working population, our position must not just reflect a figure, but also a sustainable strategy based on ability and capacity to pay, as well as reflective of all our developmental needs in each State.

    “After all, Section 3 of the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission Act provides that “the Commission shall recommend a proposition of income growth which should be initiated for wage increase and also examined the salary structure in public and private sector with reasonable features of relativity and maximum levels which are in consonance with the national economy”

    “It is in this sense that we feel strongly that our acceptable minimum wage must be done in such a way that total personnel cost does not exceed 50 per cent of the revenue available to each State.

    “Governors therefore agreed to pay a national minimum wage of N22,500.”

    The meeting with the governors were the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma.

    Some of the governors at the emergency meeting were Kebbi, Ebonyi, Imo, Lagos, Plateau, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun, and Nasarawa represented by Deputy, Adamawa.

    The Organised Labour had scheduled Nov. 6 to embark on nationwide strike to compel government to peg a new minimum wage at N30,000.

    The leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and United Labour Congress of Nigeria (TUC), on Tuesday held mass protest across the country as part of sensitisation of workers and Nigerians for the planned industrial action.

  • JUST IN: Governors summon emergency meeting over minimum wage

    Governors under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum have called an emergency meeting where decisions on minimum wage will be discussed.

    The meeting, which will hold in Abuja on Tuesday, is said to be compulsory for all the 36 governors.

    A statement issued by the NGF secretariat in Abuja on Monday said that all the governors must be present and that they should not send any representative.

    The statement reads in part, “Emergency meeting of governors over minimum wage will hold tomorrow at the NGF secretariat, Maitama, Abuja at 5pm.

    “In attendance will be all governors, no representation.

    “Various stakeholders, including the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige, will also attend.”

    Details later…

  • Minimum wage: Economic management team, governors meet on Monday

    Members of the Economic Management Team will on Monday meet state governors on the issue of new National Minimum Wage.
     
    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
     
    The meeting will hold ahead of the November 6 commencement date of a nationwide industrial action called by labour unions on the matter.
     
    Ngige insisted that no final decision has been taken on the matter.
     
    The minister also threatened that the government will not hesitate to implement the ‘No work, no pay’ rule which he claimed started during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

  • Governors set to declare state of emergency in education sector

    Towards reviving the educational sector across the country, the National Economic Council (NEC) is putting finishing touches to declare state of emergency in education in all the states of the federation.
    The NEC, which comprises of the 36 state governors, will take a final decision on the proposed state of emergency in its next meeting.
    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, said that the Council received interim report from its Ad-hoc committee on the revival of education in Nigeria.
    According to him, the committee recommended that all state governors should declare a state of emergency on education.
    The areas to be focused on, he said, included technical education, basic education, promoting adult literacy,and out of school children.
    He said “It will be implemented so that we have a systematic growth in the education sector.
    “It is not going to be one of those documents that will be kept aside. It will be implemented to the letter.
    “The state of emergency should go beyond lip service.” he added