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Tag: Mr Ayuba Wabba

Okowa reiterates commitment to pay N30,000 minimum wage

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has reiterated his government’s commitment to pay workers in the state the N30,000 new minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.

The governor gave the assurance yesterday while declaring open the state Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Quadrennial Conference in Asaba.

Okowa, represented by his Special Adviser on SERVICOM and Labour Relations, Mr Mike Okeme, said dialogue remained the best approach to achieving results in any society or institution.

He appealed to labour unions to sustain the cordial relationship existing in the state.

The governor thanked the outgoing executives for their cooperation and approach to issues, while urging the incoming to sustain the relationship.

Okowa said that he would address the workers on the direction his administration would explore on May 1, Workers Day.

He thanked the workers Union for its support, contributions and understanding that had contributed to the existing peace between the workers and government.

In a goodwill message, the NLC National President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, urged the state government to immediately implement the new minimum wage for the workers.

Wabba, represented by Mr Bio Josiah, National President, Medical and Health Workers Union, said that the union would protest any action by government to lay workers off.

The NLC President also said that organised labour would resist any attempt by the Federal Government to increase pump price of petroleum products.

“Government should put the refineries in good shape to serve the people,” he said.

In his address, the outgoing State NLC Chairman, Mr Jonathan Jemireyigbe, thanked the workers for their support, and the government for giving his executives the enabling environment to function.

He said that under his watch, workers in the state fared well, with salaries and all other entitlements were paid regularly.

April 26, 2019
FG set to announce new Minimum Wage – Labour

…as Tripartite Committee completes assignment

The Federal Government is set to announce the new minimum wage as the Tripartite Committee completes its assignment for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, made this known while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Abuja.

Read Also:http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/nlc-minimum-wage-and-politico-economic-illogic/

According to him, the committee used the two-day to reconvene and deliberate on a new minimum wage figure that was acceptable to all employers of labour in the country.

“I want to assure workers that all has been concluded and will be passed for signing within the week.

“I also want to appreciate the Organised Private Sector, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for their resolve to pay the new minimum wage when it is signed into law,” he said.

The NLC president, however, refused to disclose the figure arrived at by the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage.

Wabba said the presidency would make it public after deliberation by the National Economic Council meeting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), on Sept. 30, suspended its warning strike on a new minimum wage embarked upon on Sept. 26.

The organised labour had embarked on the strike after a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government for failing to reconvene meeting to come out with its own figure on the new minimum wage.

The three unions had demanded N65, 500 as new minimum wage for workers, while the private employers and some state governors were proposing N25,000.

October 8, 2018
2017 Budget: Workers welfare not properly captured – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says workers welfare is not properly captured in the 2017 national budget.

The NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said this while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

“Our budget system is not transparent enough, if you look at the estimate of this year budget, a lot of issues have arisen, especially the allocations for capital and current expenditure.

“But importantly, the fact also is that a lot of issues pertaining to the welfare of workers have not been properly captured.

“On the issue of pension, we are very certain and convinced because there is a liability presently of over N300 billion that is supposed to be accommodated in the budget for the payment of pensions.

“Especially the contributory pension scheme which actually we have interfaced with the leadership of the National Assembly to try to see how this can be accommodated.

“And we are all aware that this has not been captured adequately. There are also some earned allowances which also have not being earned but a portion of it has being provided in the budget.

“So, in terms of how the budget directly affects the workers, I think some of the issues certainly have not being captured very effectively,” he said.

On the overall performance of the 2017 budget, Wabba noted that time was of essence.

He, however, decried the late implementation of the budget, saying that substantial time has been lost in the preparation that ought to have taken effect.

“Therefore our position is whatever needs to be done, needs to be done properly.

“Especially, the capital projects that have to do with putting in place our very importantly critical infrastructure need to receive the most desired attention.

“So that those issues can then kick start the economy and then stimulate the economy and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country.

“Because, one, we are not producing and ones those critical sectors are not working then we will remain in pathetic situation that we will not be able to get out of it,” the NLC president said.

Wabba added that the process and the manner of implementation of the national budget has certainly not being encouraging to Nigerians.

He noted that a study of the figures in the budget shows that, major priorities were given to areas that do not address the fundamental issues that Nigerians are passing through.

“I think there is a need for a transparent budget process where it would start very early and it will be open for public scrutiny and also the input can be made into the process.

“This will be able to address the very critical issues of our development, because if you look at some aspects of the budget, the overhead seems to be much more than the capital budget.

“I think that is not good for us, that is not good for our system and that is why we are in this situation,’’ according to Wabba.

June 27, 2017
Sovereignty of Nigeria not negotiable -Labour

Organised Labour Movement in the country has urged Nigerians to stand up with one voice and fight those promoting division on the basis of primordial affinity in the country.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) gave the advise at a news conference jointly addressed by the Trade Union Congress, (TUC) and Civil Society Allies on the state of the nation in Abuja.

Wabba said it was to make their positions clear in unequivocal terms on the unity and sovereignty of Nigeria on the drum beats of war in the country.

“You have been witnesses to the degeneration of the national conversation into threats and counter-threats; pulling down the federation by some desperate forces and which are being conveyed in vile and base language.

“These persistent hot exchange and attacks tend to threaten the foundation and integrity of our sovereignty and unity.

“These do not represent the true feelings of patriotic Nigerians for one another.

“Rather, they symbolise the intensity of greed, implacable arrogance, and desperation of the elites, some of whom have been sponsoring the hate campaigns that can only lead to the disintegration of our dear nation.

“Thus, those fanning the embers of disunity needs to be discouraged and schooled on the realities of war, we appeal to all Nigerians,” he said.

He, therefore, called on Nigerian workers, pensioners and peasants not to allow themselves to be used as cannon folders for the selfish interest.

Wabba said that over the decades, labour had stood for “one Nigeria” and still committed to the values of the founding fathers.

He said that the labour movement was determined to stop those throwing the nation to another avoidable civil war.

He further decried the escalating social and economic injustice, poor living conditions of people, inability of several states government to pay living wage or even ensure the payment of salaries as and when due.

The labour leader listed others as massive unemployment, lack of productivity as a result of de-industrialisation, galloping inflation, devaluation of the currency among others.

“We should therefore look at positive options, peaceful, rigorous and altruistic of reforming the system.

“We will continue to underscore the need for good governance in our country as a basis for any realistic development and eventual emancipation of our people.

“As the issues in contention can be resolved through good governance, sustainable and transparent fight against corruption and addressing inequities and injustice in the system,” he said.

Also, the TUC president, Mr Bobboi Kaigama, while speaking on true federalism, called for the accountability of the electorate in the country.

Kaigama called on government to set up a strong think-tank to look at the 2014 National Conference report as it was vital for development and stability of the country.

He noted that the current government only had 30 per cent participation in the National Conference and that the report should not be abandoned.

Speaking, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) called on Nigerians to look at the things that bind them together and not things that will separate them.

Falana said that there was no nation without challenges and problems, but the ability of the country to overcome the challenges remain the main issue.

On the issue of restructuring, `We cannot be having political restructuring without economy restructuring. “If you are talking about restructuring, you cannot be selling the assets of the country to individuals.

“Those who are talking about restructuring are not interested in the Chapter 2, of the Constitution, which is the fundamental objective that states shall be made justifiable towards the right to education.

“The right to health, the right to unemployment benefits and the right to a living wage and we must remind them to address these social services of our people,” he added.

June 22, 2017
Contributory Pension: NLC condemns bill exempting law enforcement agencies

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday in Abuja condemned the pending bill to exempt military and law enforcement agencies from the National Contributory Pension Scheme.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, said this when he led a delegation to the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) to know their achievements and challenges, in continuation of his “Meet the affiliate Tour”.

According to him, we condemn in very strong terms the current bill to remove all our military and other law enforcement agencies from the contributory pension scheme.

He added that this would lead to the entire collapse of the pension scheme, adding that because presently even with the core civil service, we have a liability of over N6 billion.

“This was a figure that was harmonised between the Senate, House of Representative, Minister of Finance, organised Labour and then the Minister of Budget and Planning.

“The liability as of today of earn allowance of workers and pensioners including deductions stood at over 600 billion, so it is wrong if this bill is allowed to pass through,” he said

Wabba said that if the military and the law enforcement agencies were removed from the contributory pension it would allow the resources to come from the central coffers.

He noted that if this was done, it was obvious that the entire contributory pension scheme would then collapse.

The NLC President, however, said that people assume that over 73 per cent of the entire pension funds which stood at over 6 trillion was already being borrowed through Federal Government Bond and Treasury Bills.

He said that with the new development if the pending bill was allowed to go through there would be a major shock to the economy, therefore, the entire pension contributory scheme would surely collapse.

According to him, it will be in the interest of the entire workers if the House of Representatives take an honourable look at the issue.

“I do not think that they know the implication, but we have studied it because presently the pension arrangement is that 60 percent of the contributions is from the private sector employees, only 40 percent are from the Federal Government or public employees.

“Presently only 10 states had keyed into the contributory pension scheme that is actually funding, therefore, you can see the very precarious situation that is in place.

“This bill certainly at this point in time is not desirable and organised labour has called for the withdrawal of this bill because it will collapse the entire contributory pension system,” he added.

Wabba, however, commended the House of Representatives for the proposed bill for the regular review of the minimum wage at least every five years.

He noted that the review of the minimum every five years was actually in the collective bargaining system when the minimum wage was signed into law in 2011.

He added that it was mutually agreed that after every five years there should be a review but this was not captured in the law.

“We want to commend the progressive stand of the house in making this provision in the law because this is also what applied in many economics,” he said.

Wabba while commending NUGLE members for their support, called for greater synergy.

He said that the NLC would put up strategies in handing the challenges faced by the Union.

The Labour leader added that NLC would organised quarterly activities to strengthen its affiliates.

Speaking, Mr Ibrahim Khaleed, NUGLE President said that the union was facing a lot of challenges, which includes the refusal of Akwa Ibom state government to pay check up dues.

Khaleed noted that others are the non-payment of local government workers’ salaries, poor relationships with leaders, lack of capacity building, non-implementation of N18,000 minimum wage by Zamfara State Government.

“I want to say that the Zamfara state government still pays N6,000 as the minimum wage for its workers, which does not suit the present day realities,” he said.

June 1, 2017
Workers’ Day disruption: Minister puts blame on NLC faction

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Monday, blamed the disruption and protest by workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) faction.

Ngige told newsmen on the sideline of the celebration that what happened was as result of infiltration by non-workers into the celebration venue and not necessarily workers anger about minimum wage.

The event was disrupted for close to one hour by workers who barred government officials from delivering the speech from the federal government.

He said that the workers had no reason to be angry with the present administration because it had been very friendly with them.

The Federal Government has been friendly to workers to the extent that it even went ahead and initiated the bailout fund. No government has done that before and that was because we did not want to lay off any worker.

“So what happened today is that some people who are not really workers infiltrated this arena and they started causing some problems.

“Be that as it may, we are going to address the issue of minimum wage, we are also going to address the issue of backlog of promotion areas and allowances of all sorts.

“We captured them in the 2016 budget but for some reasons, the releases are not forthcoming but the president of the senate has assured us now.

“So we are going to capture them in the 2017 budget appropriation and once it’s captured in the appropriation, the minister of finance will handle the rest,”

Ngige insisted that the venue was infiltrated by non-workers due to some fractionalization within the labour federation, adding that the conclusion was reached based on an intelligent report.

He said the issue of a minimum wage was being delayed because the government employed what it called a tripartite negotiation also known as social dialogue so as to capture all sectors.

He said this was because the issue did not concern the government or public sector alone but also the private sector so it needed time to carry everybody along.

“We have finished the framework for the composition of the committee of the minimum wage and we have passed it round to government to source the requisite and qualified persons that will man this committee.

We are going to address the issue of a minimum wage; we are also going to address the issue of backlog of promotion arrears and allowances so workers should be patient and give us some time.

“Within the next quarter, the minimum wage committee will start functioning and in the next three months also, a backlog of all arrears and other allowances that are due to them will be paid,’’ he said.

However, the President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, and his counterpart, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Bobboi Kagama, said that Nigerian workers had expressed anger and disappointment on the non-implementation of the minimum wage thereby disrupting the 2017 May Day celebration.

According to them, workers have today expressed their sadness, challenges, as many of them have not earned their salaries, so it is a demonstration of anger on the situation in the country.

“The challenges workers are passing through are enormous, workers have expected that either the President or the Vice-president would have been present to respond to workers yearning and anticipation.

Workers attitude today have shown that it is an accumulation of anger and that the economic situation is biting very hard on them as many of them cannot pay their bills.

Also, some workers who spoke with NAN believed that there was no infiltration of the venue by non-workers as claimed by the minister but what played out was an accumulation of grievances against the government.

Mrs Asaba Lydia a unionist of the Nigeria Civil Service Union said the workers were taken for granted by the government thus the reason for sending representatives rather than coming themselves.

Lydia said the issue began with the minister’s act by sending the permanent secretary to represent him while he represents the president, adding that it was not fair to the workers.

“A day such as this, the government could not even honour workers by attending the event themselves, if the president is not available what about the Vice President?

“We have tried to follow the norm as workers and it has not worked so now we are saying we are tired of failed promises, enough is enough ‘’

Mr Dassey Heblom, a civil servant, said they workers refused to listen to the speeches of the government officials because every year it had always been stories without action or implementation.

Heblom said workers were now aware of what was going on and thus would not stop asking for their rights for policy statements to be made and implemented.

“We are tired of talks, we want action, that is all we are saying, imagine we are even celebrating this day without salaries not to talk of the accumulation of unpaid allowances,” he said.

May 1, 2017
NLC to collaborate with Amnesty International

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), says it will collaborate with Amnesty International to promote the rights of vulnerable groups across the country.

President of NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba, stated this during a solidarity visit to the Amnesty International in Abuja on Monday.

Wabba said this had become imperative as rights of Nigerians, especially vulnerable groups such as women, children and the less privileged, were being trampled upon.

“I want to assure you of the support of NLC and the working class because as workers, our rights have been trampled upon several times.

“You are aware of the fact that across the states, salaries, pension and gratuity are not being paid as at when due. This is a violation of the rights of workers.

“Therefore, we need to stand side by side with organisations like Amnesty International to continue to protect the most vulnerable groups against the powerful and the rich in the society.

“We have documented some of these challenges that our people have gone through’’, Wabba said.

Wabba added that NLC would continue to partner with them in the fight for social justice, corruption, good governance, accountability and in the dignity of the human being.

Wabba condemned the protest by the Global Peace and Rescue Initiative (GOPRI), at the office of the Amnesty International in Abuja on March 21.

He said Amnesty International was an organisation known globally and had worked extensively on human rights in many countries.

“For such issues to arise, especially the hiring of people to come and protest in this office is something that we condemn as organised labour.

“I really sympathise with you on what has happened, certainly Nigerians are already aware that this was a sponsored protest.

“It is something that is condemnable, we should not allow those business persons that have actually privatised protest as a means of getting money to continue in the business’’, he added.

Wabba urged them not to relent in ensuring that human rights, social justice for the less privileged, among others, were continually promoted.

He said there was need for the organised labour and its civil society allies to continue to build a strong network with the Amnesty International.

“It is very clear that the people who came were on a very destructive mission. They want to destroy the image and the credibility of civil society organisations, but I am happy none of them was associated with that scam.

“It is actually a scam, a rented group; that is why they ended up fighting themselves over the small amount of money promised by their sponsors.

“They want to institutionalise the culture of impunity and they are getting worried that the era of impunity is over, they will account for their actions’’, Wabba said.

Wabba assured that the NLC would not stop the struggle to ensure better living for the workforce adding that it would continue to collaborate with the organised labour to carry out humanitarian services.

Mr Auwal Rafasanjani, Chairman Trustee, Amnesty International Nigeria, commended the NLC for the solidarity visit.

Rafasanjani said Amnesty International was a reputable organisation that worked on accountability.

March 27, 2017
NLC confident of minimum wage review

The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, says the Federal Government and the organised Labour movement in the country have reached a consensus to review the National Minimum Wage.

Wabba, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the consensus was reached during the sitting of the Technical Committee on Palliative.

He said the committee was meant to look into the framework to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians and cushion the effect of the increase in the price of fuel.

He also noted that the report of the committee, which was also meant to discuss the issue of the minimum wage, was ready for submission.

“I think there is a consensus on the fact that nobody has said that the minimum wage should not be reviewed.

“The palliative report is ready and it would be submitted before the end of the month.

“At the last palliative meeting, labour leaders had requested that they needed to look at the main report of the committee before submission.

“So, the technical committee will have to submit its report to Mr President and not to the Minister of Labour and Employment,” he said.

Wabba said that after the submission, the Presidency would then set up the tripartite committee that would involve the government, private and public sector.

The NLC President said that labour was hopeful that the minimum wage committee would be constituted soon.

He said that labour had also received positive response from the National Assembly, saying that the Senate had promised to pass the bill.

NAN recalls that the labour unions had submitted a proposal to the government demanding for N56, 000 as minimum wage.

February 15, 2017