TheCable

The Taraba state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says Nigerian workers are the least paid in Africa, citing an analysis of the wages of most African countries.

Peter Gambo, chairman of the congress in Taraba, said this while addressing reporters in Jalingo, the state capital on Tuesday.

He had led a solidarity protest to demand government’s approval of the new minimum wage being proposed by organised labour.

Labour is demanding an upward review of minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000.

“We analysed the wages of most of the African countries and discovered that Nigerian workers are the least paid in Africa,” Gambo said.

“Nigeria, being the giant of Africa, should not be lagging behind. We made our request of what we expect to be paid to workers as minimum wage, but government keeps saying they can’t pay without giving reasons why they can’t pay.

“So, our protest is to create awareness and prepare the minds of Nigerians that if government did not respond to our request before Nov. 6, we are going to shut down the country.”

Gambo attributed the two months salary arrears owed local government workers in Taraba to the drop in federal allocation from April 2015.

He, however, said labour in the state had contacted the governor over the issue and that he had agreed to pay the arrears.