By Abiola Olawale
Popular legal luminary and human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has declared that all the 36 states in Nigeria have the financial capability to pay a new minimum wage when decided upon.
Falana, who reacted in the wake of the just suspended nationwide strike by organised labour said the state governments have been receiving huge allocations since the Federal Government removed subsidies.
According to him, no state can plead insufficient funds when their monthly allocations have risen since the fuel subsidy removal.
Speaking with the press on Tuesday, Falana emphasized that in the event of a state government’s non-compliance with the newly proposed minimum wage, once it is enacted into law, labour unions retain the right to take legal action against the respective state.
He said: “There is no state in Nigeria today that cannot pay more than the minimum wage because the government removed fuel subsidy last year and President Tinubu told Nigerians that the money made from that policy will be used.”
“Any state government or employer of labour that does not pay the national minimum wage, we have agreed this time around (our law firm and the labour unions) we are not going to allow the non-payment of wages. They will be dragged to court.
“We are going to ensure the law is complied with, including the fact that we will be paying the court to make an order, deducting what belongs to the workers monthly from the source in Abuja. We cannot go like this.”
The human rights lawyer also called on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi to initiate appropriate steps to sanction states that fail to pay the current N30,000 minimum wage.
He maintained that since the payment of the minimum wage is an agreement entered into freely, state governments that are unable to honour such a deal are breaching the law.
He continued: “Once a new agreement, a new minimum wage becomes the law of the country. The Federal Government has a duty, and the Attorney General of the country must drag any state government that does not pay to court
“I mean, the attorney general can just file a new case, which is a good development, by saying over the years, we have accused state governments of diverting monuments for local governments,” he said.
