The remaining states yet to implement the N70,000 minimum wage for workers are making last-minute moves to ensure the Nigeria Labour Congress does not embark on strike on Monday, December 1.
The states yet to approve the monthly wage are Katsina, Cross River and Zamfara, after the Imo State Government sanctioned the implementation of the N70,000 wage on Tuesday.
It means 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory have now complied with the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.
Many states agreed to pay above the N70,000 starting point with Lagos and Rivers offering the highest pay with N85,000.
But despite the NLC’s warnings, Katsina, Zamfara and Cross River have yet to implement the new wage, which could lead to a shutdown of activities in the affected states from Monday.
On Monday, labour unions in Cross River, who are demanding a new wage of N70,000 from the state government, directed state civil servants to embark on a two-day warning strike over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage.
The warning strike was signed by the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
This followed a staged walkout from a scheduled meeting held on November 18 with state government officials, who formed members of the wage implementation committee at the office of the state’s Head of Service, Innocent Eteng, in Calabar, the state capital.
According to the labour leaders, last week, when the committee sat for the first time, the meeting ended in a stalemate when they perceived delayed tactics by the government to postpone the meeting to January.
