*Slams governors of states over non-payment of minimum wage.
By John Ugo, Awka
The National leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has thrown its weight behind the Chinwe Orizu led chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress in Anambra State.
The President of the NLC who spoke through Benson Upah at a press conference in Awka, capital of Anambra State on Wednesday, said a faction of the NLC in the state led by Humphrey Nwafor was not recognised by the NLC and is thus, illegal.
Comrade Wabba directed the Nwafor faction believed to be backed by the Anambra State Government to desist from creating disunity within the labour family, warning that members of the union instigating trouble would be made to pay for it.
The NLC, Ayuba said the only recognised NLC leadership in the state was the one led by Comrade Orizu who succeeded Comrade Jerry Nnubia following his retirement from the civil service.
Checks by our correspondent Comrade revealed that immediately after Comrade Nwizu’s assumption of leadership, the NLC Nwafor faction sprang up and started laying claim to the leadership and urged the NLC headquarters to recognize it.
But sounding the note of warning to the splinter group on Wednesday, Wabba said:
“There is only one Anambra Council chairman known to NLC and that person is Comrade Chinwe Orizu with whom we are well pleased. The NLC has written letters introducing her to the state government, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Department of State Services, the Secretary to the State Government(SSG), and the Governor.
“We do not have two council chairpersons of NLC in Anambra State and there is no state where we have two NLC chairmen.
Upah, who represented Wabba at the press conference, said he was, the only lawful person sent by the NLC to monitor the protest that did not hold eventually because it had been overtaken by events.
“Any other person claiming to be in this state to represent NLC should be reported to the national headquarters and the police”, the NLC boss said.
He admonished those promoting, instigating and sponsoring a split of NLC in Anambra State should stop it because in the final analysis, they will pay dearly for it.
“If it is the state government, it will soon know what we can do because we cannot take it lying low”.
“If it is the state government, it will soon know what we can do because we cannot take it lying low”.
Also at the press conference the NLC boss took a swipe at some governors whose states have ref to pay the minimum wage of N30,000. He averred that these states should realise that were under obligation to pay the sum as it was a matter of law.
“The national minimum wage issue is law and it became law by consensus. The governments of the federation, made up of the centre and the states, as well as the private sector and other strategic institutions, had a discussion and arrived at an implementable figure.
“That decision was not imposed on anybody. It was transited to the national assembly and became a law and the president signed it and now some state governors say they don’t have money to implement it”, Wabba noted.
He stated that then N30, 000 minimum wage is the baseline beliw which no employer should go noting that the reason for having a national minimum wage is to protect the poor and to avoid creating communities of the poor in the country.
“If there is no minimum wage, some states will pay as low as N5000. Often times some people mistake the concept of the national minimum wage. It is the base structure and states are not allowed to go below the national minimum wage. Even at that, what is the worth of N30,000 in Nigeria today”, he stated.
He warned the defaulting governors to have a change of heart noting that this was their last chance as the bational leadrpership of the NLC has given its state councils the approval to protest.
“We will mobilize to each state whose governor is not paying”, Comrade Wabba said.