Labour To Commence State-wide Strike Feb 4th

Niger state Governor Abubakar Sani Bello (Abu Lolo)

In a joint statement signed by the NLC and TUC heads in Niger  state, Yakubu Garba and Yunusa W. Tanimu respectively in early January, organized labour threatened to embark on a state wide industrial action (strike) starting on February 4^th if the state government continues to refuse the payment of the new thirty thousand naira minimum wage. 

Niger state is one of the over ten states that are yet to commence payment of the wage which was signed into law by the Nigerian National Assembly on April 18th 2019. 

In October 2019, the Niger state governor said it would commence paying the wage as soon as workers verification was concluded. The state government revealed that the verification detected one thousand ghost workers and that this was costing the state Three million naira every month. It is however not known for a cert why the government has been dragging its feet. 

On the day of expiration of the deadline given by labour, the NLC president, Abba Waba, said only governors who are preparing to loot will refuse to pay the new wage. 

The activist said in his New Year message which coincided with the expiration of the deadline, “We wish to remind state governors that no excuse will be good enough for failure to pay. The ongoing revelations on the monumental looting perpetrated by former governors prove that only an intent to loot, and deadened conscience not availability of resources will  be the reason any governor would hesitate to pay workers the N30,000 new national minimum wage and the consequential adjustments in salaries. The new national minimum wage is now a law and state governors do not have the luxury to choose whether to pay or not.”

On 22nd January, the Niger state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rejected an offer of 150 million naira from the Niger state government. 

The state government led by  Abubakar Sani Bello offered to distribute the money among civil servants in from grade level 7 to 17, a move that was intended to stall the implementation of the Federal approved minimum wage.