Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the congress did not endorse any of the presidential candidates ahead of the 2011 general elections just as it warned that any state governments that refused to pay the N18,000 minimum wage just signed by the president would be inviting trouble.
Speaking with Labour correspondents in Abuja yesterday, the NLC President Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar said the organized labour would battle any state government that failed to implement the new wage.
Comrade Omar pointed out that the NLC and Nigerian workers would prefer a labour-friendly president. He, however, denied endorsing any candidates for the April polls and advised the electorate to vote for anyone of their choice.
“We were at the Presidential Villa yesterday to meet with Mr. President; at least you did not hear us say that we have endorsed the president or any of the candidates. We cannot endorse any candidate but we will want a labour friendly president. Anyone that is labour friendly, we will identify with at our individual level and vote for such candidate,” Omar said.
Comrade Omar also warned against unnecessary delay in the implementation of the new wage.
“We will encourage employers to immediately commence implementation,” he said. “Any employer that decides to drag the implementation will only be doing that at his own peril because the law is clear and the law takes effect from the day the president assented to the bill and, therefore, if anybody wishes to accumulate arrears, he is only doing that on its own, but as much as possible we will encourage that payment and implementation commence immediately so as to avoid accumulation of unnecessary arrears.”
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