The Zamfara State Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) regarding the implementation of the ₦70,000 minimum wage.
In a strategic effort to avert an indefinite strike by the state’s labour union, the government announced that it will begin payment of the new minimum wage in March 2025.
Naijaonpoint reports that this agreement, finalized late Monday evening, followed extensive negotiations between state government representatives and NLC officials.
Additionally, the agreement addressed various labour-related issues raised by the union, including the enhancement of welfare packages for state employees.
The NLC Chairman in the state, Comrade Sani Haliru, confirmed the cancellation of the proposed industrial action, asserting that the MoU represents a significant achievement for workers’ rights.
He commended Governor Dauda Lawal’s administration for its readiness to engage in constructive dialogue and its commitment to prioritizing the welfare of workers.
He said: “If you can see all our circulars, it states that a state where there is no implementation or an agreement, commitment signed, but we all witnessed what happened here this night, even the state Governor is inside his office waiting for the outcome of this meeting.
“Before, I was not happy with what was on the ground because I said we should come to an agreement, but they said no, they could not do it, I said okay, let us go ahead with the strike; now that they have done what is expected of them, we would refer to our National Headquarters.”
The Zamfara Government, represented at the meeting by the Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Nakwada, reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to executing the agreed-upon wage increase.
He assured employees that the state government is devoted to nurturing a cooperative relationship with labour unions.
“For me, leading from the state government side, I would say it’s a very fruitful meeting, it has taken us many days, but by special grace of God, today we are able to meet at a certain point of ₦70,000 minimum wage, the state Government has accepted and we have signed the MoU, no Victor no vanquish,” Nakwada said, stressing that the implementation of the new ₦70,000 minimum wage will commence in March 2025.
“What we have signed, the implementation date is going to be in March 2025, reasons for that is that we have a committee working on the verification of the entire state workforce, this is intended to align the nominal role with regards to payroll so that it will balance, we are almost over 50% of that.”
“For us that is the assurance we have received from the labour unions, so we really don’t expect any strike from them, that’s an assurance they gave us during the meeting,” the government official added.
Naijaonpoint reports that the Zamfara chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was poised to initiate an indefinite strike today (Tuesday) should the state government not address its demands regarding the minimum wage.
Zamfara is among the twelve states identified by the NLC’s national leadership to engage in industrial action due to the failure of state governments to implement the recently approved national minimum wage by the federal government.