THERE are strong indications that the planned December 1 strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress may suffer a setback following the declaration by some state chapters of the union that they will not be part of the proposed industrial action.
President Bola Tinubu had in July approved a new minimum wage of N70,000 for Nigerian workers, including civil servants, and pledged to review the wage every three years.
Many states agreed to pay above the N70,000 minimum, with Lagos and Rivers states offering the highest pay of N85,000.
However, 13 states and the Federal Capital Territory have yet to begin the implementation of the new minimum wage.
Some of the affected states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Katsina.
Others are Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Enugu states, and the FCT.
But less than 24 hours to the planned strike, some state chapters of the NLC withdrew and distanced themselves from the industrial action.
Sokoto
In Sokoto State, following the approval of N70,000 minimum wage for state workers by Governor Ahmed Aliyu, the NLC opted out of the planned national strike of the union.
Recall that the state governor, while presenting the 2025 appropriation bill to the state House of Assembly on Friday, announced that his administration was ready to adopt N70,000 as the new minimum wage.
The governor, however, disclosed that the implementation of the new wage would commence in January 2025.
Speaking with our correspondent on the next line of action, the secretary of the NLC in the state, on Saturday, said the union had withdrawn from the proposed strike action.
He said, “We are not joining the strike action; representatives of the labour union and the state government have signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of the new minimum wage.”
Oyo
Similarly, organised labour in Oyo State dissociated itself from the strike.
The NLC state chairman and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Kayode Martins and Bosun Olabiyi, respectively, in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH in Ibadan, the state capital, said labour would not participate in the strike.
Martins said, “We have liaised with the national secretariat, and we let them realise the stage we are. Already, we have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the conclusion of everything.
“We wrote in our press release that we have a good rapport with the government.”
In his submission, Olabiyi said, “We are dissociating ourselves totally from the strike in the state. We have an understanding with the state government; we are not going on strike because everything is fine in this state.”
Katsina
The NLC Chairman in Katsina State, Hussaini Danduna, was also part of the withdrawal spree, saying workers in the state would not join the planned December 1st industrial action.
He said, “We have signed an agreement with the Katsina State Government, and based on this, we are not going to join the strike action declared by the national executive council of our union.”
Also, the TUC Chairman, Katsina State chapter, Mukhtar Abdu-Ruma, said workers would not join the action following the agreement reached with the state government on Saturday.
“The new minimum wage will be implemented in December, and we have agreed on the minimum wage and consequential adjustment,” he stated.
Akwa Ibom
Meanwhile, the TUC Chairman in Akwa Ibom State, Dominic Abang, said public civil servants would not participate in the planned industrial action by the NLC over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage.
Though the state NLC Chairman, Sunny James, could not be reached on the phone, Abang told one of our correspondents in Uyo, the state capital, that the TUC had gone far at the committee level, hence there was no need to join the strike.