Falana also threatened that any state or employer of labour that fails to pay the new minimum wage will be dragged to court
By Kehinde Okeowo
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has insisted all the governors of the 36 states in Nigeria can pay the yet to be agreed “new minimum wage“.
He made claim on Channels Television programme, ‘The Morning Brief’, where he also threatened that any state or employer of labour that fails to pay will be dragged to court.
His statement comes amid speculations that some states are too poor to pay a minimum wage higher than what is currently obtainable.
Faulting the argument, Falana said
all states will be able to pay the new minimum wage following funds accrual from the removal of fuel subsidy.
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Speaking during the interview, he said: “There is no state in Nigeria today that cannot pay more than the minimum wage because the government removed fuel subsidy last year and President Tinubu told Nigerians that the money made from that policy will be used.
“Any state government or employer of labour that does not pay the national minimum wage, we have agreed this time around (our law firm and the labour unions) we are not going to allow the non-payment of wages. They will be dragged to court.
“We are going to ensure the law is complied with, including the fact that we will be paying the court to make an order, deducting what belongs to the workers monthly from the source in Abuja. We cannot go like this.”
Labour on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike action, but called it off on Tuesday following negotiations and agreement with the federal government.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had demanded N464,000 as a new minimum wage but the government proposed N60,000.