The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, says it is set to hold a nationwide protest on Tuesday over the delay in transmitting the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee on a new National Minimum Wage to the National Assembly.
Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, NLC General Secretary, stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja in Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalled that the National Executive Council, NEC, of the NLC had threatened to embark on a nationwide protest on January 8, if the Federal Government did not send the Tripartite Committee report on N30,000 minimum wage to the National Assembly.
The organised labour issued the threat following President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that a “high powered technical committee” would be set up to device ways to ensure that its implementation did not lead to an increase in the level of borrowing.
According to Ozo-Eson, it should be recalled that the National Executive Council of NLC met on Dec. 17 and directed that we hold nationwide mobilisation of workers and allies protest.
“That is, if by December 31, 2018, the bill on the National Minimum Wage has yet to be sent to the National Assembly to be passed as an act of parliament.
“We immediately announced then that on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, there will be a nationwide mass mobilisation and protests simultaneously across all states in Nigeria. This does not translate to a strike.
“It is on record that each time we had cause to embark on a national strike, we say so publicly without any equivocation.
‘‘We still don’t understand where the story about a strike commencing tomorrow came from,” he said.
He noted that all state councils, affiliate unions and the civil society organisations have been fully informed and mobilised to ensure the success of Tuesday’s mass protests in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He added that when a date was decided for the commencement of a strike subsequently, we would inform the public appropriately.
NAN
