African press review 2 May 2016

Labour Day turns sour in Nigeria as President Buhari snubs the Unions' clamour for a minimum wage. There were also May Day appeals for unity in South Africa as the ruling tripartite alliance comes under pressure.

DR

Punch

In Nigeria,  the unions were furious at  the government on Sunday after they demanded a minimum wage of 245 euors per month without a reponse from the government.

The paper said that the issue was not mentioned by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the May Day rally in Abuja.

It  also reports that officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress expressed disappointment at the failure of the President to personally attend the annual event.

Vanguard

Meanwhile the Vanguard reports that 36 states of Nigeria are "losing faith in President Buhari's change mantra".

However,the  paper says that citizens in Edo State are still smiling. The region's governor, Adams Oshiomhole, took workers by surprise on Labour Day by accouncing an increase in the minimum wage of N18,000 (78 euros) to N25,000, or 109 euros.

BusinessDay

In South Africa, President Zuma's issued an appeal for unity in his Labour Day message. This, as National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), including ex-COSATU Secretary Generak Zwelinzima Vavi, threatened to defect and form a rival union.

COSATU  President Sdumo Dlamin underlined his resolve to step up the fight against unemploymenty. South Africa’s unemployment rate stood at 24.5 percent in in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to official figures.

Dlamini reportedly repeated his resolve to push forward with COSATU's core mandate of defending workers and fighting large corporations.

 Daily Nation

In Kenya, politicians used Labour Day celebrations as a platform to outline their ambitions, while rain-drenched workers gathered at Nairobi's Uhuru Park received no answer to thier demands for an increase the minimum wage.

According to the paper, the issue dominating debates in Kenya on the day was instead whether commissioners at Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission should stay and whether trade unions were engaging in politics.

Meanwhile, the May Day politicking in Nairobi overshadowed sad news from Mombasa that the conjoined twins born at Coast General Hospital with a single liver last week had died while being transported to a Nairobi hospital.