Lagos, June 4, 2024 – Femi Falana, a Lawyer and Human Rights Activist, says all the 36 state governments can pay the new minimum wage.
Falana, who was on Channels Television programme, ‘The Morning Brief’, on Tuesday, threatened to drag any state that would fail to pay the minimum wage to court.
“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 what the money made from that policy will be used for.
“Any state government or employer of labour that does not pay the national minimum wage, we have agreed this time around, 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 has just suspended an indefinite strike for a living wage of N494, 000 monthly for workers across the country, while the federal government offered N60,000.
About 15 state governments are still to pay the old N30,000 minimum wage. (GBN)
