Oshiomhole faults govs on N18,000 minimum wage

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday in
Abuja disagreed with his colleagues in the governors
forum, insisting that state governors must pay the
18,000 minimum wage which was signed into law by
former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking after the first Central Working Committee
(CWC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja,
yesterday, Oshiomhole said the minimum wage
agreement was reached after painstaking negotiations
among labour, employers and government.
He said with current economic realities, the 18, 000
minimum wage, which is less than 100 dollars is
nothing to write home about.
He said, “I joined the NLC to protest to the National
Assembly when they were going to amend the
constitution to make the minimum wage a concurrent
issue.
“I said workers have a stake in this democracy. They
are the ones who could afford to match the street and
they matched the street for democracy. Democracy
doesn’t have to run at the comfort or convenience of
governors, ministers, and presidents. I believe that the
issue in the economy hasn’t got to do with minimum
wage. I have always also reminded my colleagues that
the minimum wage was not imposed, it was negotiated
and state governments agreed to it, the president
signed it not under duress, there was no strike to
compel the then president to sign it, he signed it
voluntarily.
“I believe when you look at the minimum wage as it is
today at N18,000, it is less than 100 dollars. I think it is
now about eighty dollars. Now, divide eighty dollars by
31 days, you will be getting about two point something
dollars. Now we cannot argue that workers in Nigeria’s
formal sector should not earn more than two dollars a
day, I cannot subscribe to that because the art of
governance is the welfare of the people.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the
Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have warned
that any attempt to undermine the payment of the
N18,000 minimum wage by the state governors will not
be taken lightly by workers.
Both unions were reacting to recent report in the
national dailies saying that governors in their meeting in
Abuja said they can no longer pay N18, 000 national
minimum wage because it was imposed on them when
oil sold for $126 as against the present price of $41 per
barrel.