Hundreds of workers in Kwara State, led by the organized labour unions, on Wednesday staged a protest over the state government’s refusal to implement the new national minimum wage.
The workers mostly dressed in red and carried placards and banners with various inscriptions calling the attention of the governor on the need to implement the new wages.
The procession, which took off from the Labour House beside the State High Court in Ilorin, headed to the State House of Assembly.
They were heard chanting solidarity songs – “Oti yara gbagbe, ileri ree igbakan X2, Ase binti logbon orire, iwo ti aro pee ogbon X2” loosely translated as “How fast you renege on your commitments, so you are not as intelligent as we thought” – as they marched on.
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The protest in Kwara is part of the nationwide protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress against alleged move by some members of the National Assembly to remove the Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.
Kwara govt pays new wage for level 1 to 6 as labour leaders kick against partial implementation
NLC had earlier rejected the partial implementation of the minimum wage for level 1 to 6 officers by the state government.
Comrade Aliyu Issa Ore on Tuesday said that the state government has violated Labour law with the implementation carried out without the signed agreement of the labour movement.
The labour leaders pointed out that the state government has said that it can only pay officials between levels 1 to 6 when it recently met with Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq based on the state’s revenue allocation, a development it described as unacceptable.
They urged the state government should come back to the negotiation table in the interest of the workers in the state.
‘The labour leaders had walked out of meeting with govt officials’
On February 26, a meeting between the Kwara State Government and the organised labour on the implementation of minimum wage ended in disarray as the labour leaders walked out of the parley in anger.
The dialogue, which was meant to resolve pending issues on the implementation of minimum wage, ended abruptly barely 10 minutes after it commenced at the Ministry of Finance in Ilorin, the state capital.
THE INFORMANT247 gathered that the meeting, believed to be an advance of Governor AbdulRazaq’s publicized parley with the organized labour unions – announced by his spokesperson Rafiu Ajakaye – which would later be abruptly canceled with no known reason, started with the labour leaders demanding the government to withdraw a court case instituted against them in Akure.
The government, for their part, pointed out that they could only pay the new wage, with its consequential arrangements, for workers on grade level 1 to 6, a proposal immediately rejected by the labour representatives.
Official of NLC, who declined to be identified, said they were angered by the government’s further refusal to provide details of the consequential adjustment component of the minimum wage for workers on grade level 1 to 6, despite stating, at the start of the meeting, that they have the draft.
“We believe they are not ready for negotiation yet, so we simply walked out,” the official said.
The state government and labour unions had held several meetings in recent past on the issue of consequential arrangements for Local Government workers, which all ended in deadlock, before and after late last year’s strike.
‘No allocation for minimum wage in 2021 budget yet’
THE INFORMANT247 findings had revealed that the State Government is yet to earmark any budgetary allocation yet for the new wages for workers which raise doubt about its readiness for the implementation.
Governor AbdulRazaq, while presenting the 2021 budget before the State Assembly late last year, said that his administration prioritised the implementation of the new minimum wage.
However, as contained in the 2021 appropriation law, the ‘personnel cost’ for 2019 was N13.3bn, while that of 2020 as of September was N10.04bn excluding October, November and December. With N14.5bn for 2021, this showed that the state is yet to make any allocation for a new national wage.
Responding to a question by THE INFORMANT247 on this, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, pointed out that there is N1.2bn in excess of the 2020 actual figure – in the 2021 budget.
“N1.2bn will commence minimum wage when the new salary table is signed,” he said, “Resignation and retirement of workers will also free up some funds. If there are shortfalls, the Ministry of Finance and Planning will sort out the differences as the law permits.”