Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has cautioned the organized labour against embarking on a nationwide strike on Monday.
Mohammed said embarking on a nationwide strike might cripple the economy and further cause pain to workers in Nigeria.
Speaking when he visited Alex Otti, governor of Abia; Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo; and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national working committee (NWC), the governor urged the organized labour to shelve the planned industrial action.
According to Mohammed, Nigeria would experience “severe poverty” if the labour go ahead with the strike.
He said: “I have always looked forward to making sure that workers get the best in terms of welfare, in terms of salaries and wages, but it has to be affordable—something that is within the threshold of affordability by all the sub-national and local governments.
“Definitely, what the federal government will be negotiating, some of the state governors will not be able to pay.
“Even at the moment, with the current minimum wage of N30,000, some states are not able to pay.
“And I know labour leaders are really leaders.
“They should look at this because the strike may cripple the economy and further cause pain to workers and all of us.
“So, we are pleading that we should have a combining point where we can look at our affordability.”
The organized Labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, had disclosed plans to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike from Monday
While Labour is demanding for N494,000 as the new minimum wage, the Nigerian government had insisted on paying N60,000.
N494,000 minimum wage: Strike’ll bring poverty – Bala Mohammed to NLC, TUC