22 States Owe Workers 3 Months' Salaries - NLC

"We see that delay in payment of salaries as wage theft, wage robbery. It is actually an economic crime because Nigeria Labour law says thou shall pay the worker as at when due. In fact by 22nd of every month you must have paid the workers fully," Aremu said.

According to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), workers in at least 22 states in the federation are being owed up to three months’ salaries.

This was disclosed by the Vice President of the NLC, Issa Aremu, who described the situation as wage robbery and economic crime.

Aremu stated this in Kaduna while adding that the governors of the states in question had paid delegates to the just concluded party primaries but failed to fulfill their obligations to the workers.

The NLC VP also urged the governors to pay the salaries as soon as possible.

“We never heard of any delegate being owed a single penny during the primary elections, but they cannot get money to pay the workers. In fact, some of the delegates even bought new cars and properties after the primaries because the money they got in just few days is much more than what workers earn in many months,” he added.

Meanwhile, the former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike has accused the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi of defaulting on salaries due to a withdrawal of ₦30 billion from state funds to sponsor the campaign of All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.