ABUJA – The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Lagos State, Ismail Adejumo, has chided the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki over the ₦70,000 minimum wage he recently announced, stating that Minimum wage is a universal law and no state can pronounce a minimum wage.
Describing it as an aberration, the NLC official stated that no state government has the powers to unilaterally announce a minimum wage.
This reaction is coming against the backdrop that Governor Obaseki on Monday, increased the minimum wage for workers in the state from ₦40,000 to ₦70,000.
Recall that the governor stated that the increased minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.
He made the announcement at the commissioning of the newly built ultra-modern Labour House secretariat complex for labour unions in the State, along Temboga Road, Ikpoba-Hill, Benin City.
But reacting to the development on Wednesday during an interview with Arise Television, Adejumo said what the Governor did is a mere distraction.
He urged Obaseki to allow the national tripartite committee on the new minimum wage set up by the federal government to make a pronouncement.
Adejumo said, “What happened in Edo state is just a kind of distraction to us because they’re trying to spite the government to know where they’re going.”
A policy analyst, Uchenna Stephen who was contacted by our correspondent to react to the step taken by Edo state Governor to improve the welfare of workers in the state said Obaseki is huge joke who wants to deceive the Edolites into believing he has the interest of Edo workers at heart where as the uncommunicated intention is to hand over a heavy recurrent expenditure to the incoming government with little or nothing for capital expenditure or at best to trigger labour unrest in the state in the event that the allocation accruing to the state cannot satisfactorily sustain the increament.
Stephen asked: why now? Why did he wait till this twilight of his administration to increase the minimum wage from N40,000 to N70,000. This is almost 90 percent increament if my calculation is correct, he said. Adding that most governors make this kind of announcement to create confussion for their successors as a way of causing problem for them so as not to surpass their own achievement if any or at best to frustrate them.
He charged Obaseki to announce the debt burden against his state prior to his ascension to power as Governor and now and also pronounce if salaries or pensions are owed and the exact figure owed prior to and now and what the reserve/savings in the state treasury as he is leaving office.