THE Nigeria Labour Congress declared on Tuesday that the quick passage of the National Minimum Wage Bill by the House of Representatives with N30, 000 minimum wage is to uphold the wishes of the people, as expressed at the Tripartite Committee.
Besides, the Congress said the action of members of the House of Representatives and also is in recognition of workers contributions to national development.
The President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who was reacting to the passage of the minimum wage bill sent to the House by President Muhammadu Buhari, commended the decision to increase the figure from N27,000 contained in the bill to N30,000 initially recommended by the tripartite committee
Describing the development as a victory for all Nigerians, Comd. Wabba described the development as a victory for Nigerian workers and a confirmation of the wishes expressed by all parties, including the members of the House of Representatives during the public hearing.
The NLC President, therefore, called on the Senate who are yet to organise a public hearing on the bill to emulate the House of Representatives and expedite action on the passage of the bill so that the President can assent to it immediately for Nigerian workers to start enjoying the new minimum wage.
Wabba said: “This has confirmed the wishes of the people and even the social partners because during the public hearing, organised private sector confirmed that N30,000 was mutually agreed upon and also all other sectors came in and said that it was N30,000 that was mutually agreed.
“What happened at the National Assembly is just to uphold the wishes of the people expressed at the Tripartite Committee and also centrally it is also to recognize workers contributions to national development.
“We plead with the Senate to also follow the same path and try to see how the action should be expedited and pass into law so that it can be assented to and workers would begin to benefit from it.
“But also clearly all of us are winners, nobody is a loser because really the centrality is what matters most.”
In his own reaction, the General Secretary of NLC, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson said the Lawmakers have done what the Nigerian people expect from them rather than supporting the position of the governors.
The NLC general secretary stated that it was very clear from the public hearing that all stakeholders in the minimum wage wanted N30,000.
He said: “They have done what Nigerians are expected of them. At the public hearing yesterday, it was clear that all the major stakeholders wanted to be honourable by aligning with what was agreed through negotiation at the tripartite committee level.
“We as organised labour has maintained this position all along. NECA came out to say they were part of the agreement that produced N30.000 and are standing by that agreement, even the small and medium scale enterprises said at the public hearing that they were part of the agreement.
“It was only the minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige that was even in the committee that tried to argue in support of the Governors who were not committed to this process. But it is the National Assembly that makes the Law, the House of Representatives has demonstrated that and we are happy.
“There is this aspect which we are not comfortable, which is the exclusion of those Employers who have less than 25 in their employment. We think that is already been abused, for instance, a situation where secondary schools whose teachers are taking less than minimum wage, they will just organise a payroll and announce
that they are not up to the numbered capture by Law.
“Also some lawyers Chambers paying young lawyers ten thousand naira which can’t even pay their transportation and they are hiding under the guise of not capture by Law. But everything taking together, we want to commend the House of Representatives.
“We, therefore, urge the Senate to quickly do what is needed of them by aligning with the House of Representatives on the matter so that it can be brought to conclusion.”
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