The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a stern warning to the National Assembly over reported attempts to transfer labour issues, including the minimum wage, from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list.
Naijaonpoint reports that the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, speaking on Friday at the National Administrative Council meeting of the Central Working Committee in Abeokuta, Ogun State, described the move as “an exercise in futility” and vowed to resist it with full force.
According to Ajaero, any attempt by federal lawmakers to tamper with the national labour framework would be met with stiff resistance from workers nationwide.
He warned, “If they attempt to smuggle labour matters into the concurrent list, we will mobilise workers to protest against it, even up to election day.”
He argued that labour and minimum wage matters are globally recognised as national issues, not sub-national concerns, as enshrined in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
“The National Assembly should not go into this exercise in futility unless members will also allow their respective states to determine their wages,” Ajaero added.
While speaking with journalists after the meeting, Ajaero reaffirmed the labour union’s opposition to the proposed decentralisation of the minimum wage law.
“All over the world, there is a minimum wage for the protection of workers. In Nigeria, there is legislation for a minimum wage of ₦70,000. The law permits states to pay more than that, and in fact, many states currently pay above the minimum wage,” he said.
He emphasised that allowing states to set individual minimum wages would “endanger the welfare of average workers” and potentially throw the nation’s labour system into chaos.
Ajaero also accused lawmakers of plotting to shift control of labour disputes to state industrial courts, a move he said runs contrary to ILO standards and could lead to inconsistency in the dispensation of labour justice across the country.
He warned that decentralising wage regulation and labour adjudication would lead to inequality and exploitation of workers in poorer or politically unstable states.
On the lingering issue of local government autonomy, Ajaero called for further judicial clarification.
He urged stakeholders to approach the Supreme Court to interpret and enforce the recent ruling to ensure full autonomy of the third tier of government.