Labour vows to picket states on failure to implement new minimum wage

Muhammed emerges ASCSN national president
Organised labour has vowed to shut down states that refuse to implement the N70,000 new national minimum wage. National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Shehu Muhammed, said this yesterday during the association’s fifth Quadrennial Delegates Conference in Lagos, where he emerged as the new president of the ASCSN.

According to him, “for states not ready to implement the new minimum wage. Let me tell you categorically, it is impossible. We are coming for them.”

He urged states to implement the new wage to improve the standard of living of their citizens since the incomes of state governments have continued to rise following enhanced allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Muhammed noted that states could achieve this by reducing wastages and blocking leakages of government funds, even as he also advised that the states should embrace the policy of indexing income to correspond with the rate of inflation.

In a solidarity message, the President of the TUC, Festus Osifo, promised to support the new executives to ensure the interests of workers are protected. He urged the new leadership to put the interest of the union first and those who elected them into office.