Minimum wage: Court refuses to compel govt to pay N30,000

*Directs plaintiff to deposit court documents at each state’s governor’s lodge in Abuja

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja has declined a request to compel both Federal and state governments to immediately commence the process of adopting N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Justice Sanusi Kado, in a ruling on Monday, also refused a request for a fresh order restraining the organised labour from proceeding on its planned strike, commencing on Tuesday.

Justice Kado, whose ruling was on an ex-parte motion by a group, Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International (KHRFI), noted that since the court made a similar order on November 2 this year, restraining the organised labour from embarking on strike, a fresh order was unnecessary.

The judge also noted that since parties to the dispute over a new minimum wage were still in the process of negotiation, it was unnecessary compelling a party to the ongoing negotiation to agree to an amount.

Justice Kado had, on November 2, granted an ex-parte application argued, on behalf of the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), by the Solicitor General of the Federation (SGF) for among others, an order restraining the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) from engaging in the planned strike.

At the commencement of proceedings on Monday, lawyer to KHRFI, Nnamdi Okere informed the court about the motion ex-parte he filed along with originating summons. He prayed the court to grant the prayers contained in ex-parte motion. He made efforts to distinguish his motion from the one the court granted on November 2.

But Justice Kado noted that the orders of interim injunction sought by the applicant could only be granted where there was no urgency; there was the need to preserve the subject matter of the dispute and the defendants could not be served.

The judge noted that since the court, on November 2, granted an order stopping the strike, there was no longer any urgency and as such, it was not necessary to compel the government to start the process of adopting the N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

In view of the judge’s observation, Okere withdrew the first two prayers, leaving the one for substituted service of the court processes on the 36 state governors, which the judge granted and directed that the court documents should be deposited at each of the state governor’s lodge in Abuja.

Defendants in the suit, marked: NICN/ABJ/286/18 are The President, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Minister of Labour and Productivity, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, and the National Assembly.

Others are NLC, TUC, the United Labour Congress (ULC) and the governors of the 36 states listed as the 10th to the 45th defendants.

The plaintiff, in a supportive affidavit, noted that “negotiation between the government and the organised labour according to the NLC has been concluded and a new minimum wage of N30,0000 agreed by the parties”.

The plaintiff urged the court to hold that “in view of the economic realities, hardship and pauperised squalor living condition of Nigerian masses, the payment of the paltry sum of N18,000 monthly national minimum wage to the lowest category of workers in Nigeria is adequate to take care of an average worker and his family”.

It also asked the court to hold that the N18,000 regime was not reasonably justifiable in a democracy society “if juxtaposed with huge, excessive, outrageous and disproportionate salaries, emoluments, allowances, impress and arrears paid to the political office holders, and heads of governments agencies and parastatals.

The plaintiff contended that “should the organised labour shut down the entire nation on November 6, 2018, including health sector, it will deny many poor Nigerians access to healthcare, especially those on emergency/accident unit, pregnant women on antenatal and those on post-natal, and will result to avoidable death of many innocent lives.”