The organised labour will not conduct official receptions for state governments that are violating the 2024 National Minimum Wage, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said.
NLC alleged that some states are implementing the new wage floor partially.

The central labour body said there shall be no May Day ceremonies inside government houses, banquet halls, or any enclosed venue hosted by or in collaboration with defaulting state governments.

General Secretary, NLC, Emmanuel Ugboaja, in a notice to all state council chairpersons regretted that several state governments have continued to violate the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act, refusing to fully implement its key provisions, including consequential adjustments for senior workers, regular and timely payment of the new wage and extension of coverage to local government staff, primary school teachers, and health workers.

This, he said, constituted not only a breach of the law but an assault on the dignity of Nigerian workers.

Ugboaja said May Day, the international day of the working class, has always been a day of solemn reflection on the state of workers’ rights and the celebration of their collective efforts in continuously building the wealth of nations.

He directed that there would only be street processions as the main event, whereby all workers shall assemble at designated labour houses, union secretariats, or public squares by 7:00 a.m. on May 1, 2026.

“From there, we shall take to the streets of your respective state capitals in peaceful, organised, and resolute processions.

“Each state council shall design a route that terminates at the State Government House, the State House of Assembly or the Office of the Head of Service. A formal memorandum of demands shall be submitted at the endpoint,” he said.

Ugboaja said the directive binds all affected state councils, warning that any chairperson who fails to comply or substitutes the directive with any form of passive celebration in a defaulting state shall face immediate disciplinary action.

“Comrades, the 2024 Minimum Wage Act did not come through supplication. It came through struggle. To celebrate May Day indoors while our rights are trampled upon is to betray that legacy. Let us therefore return to the streets,” he said.