Senate, NCWS want domestic workers captured in N70,000 minimum wage

There was a clamour on Monday for the inclusion of domestic workers in the new national minimum wage of N70,000.

Senators and the National Council of Women Society (NCWS) made the call in Abuja at a public hearing on a “Bill for an Act to Provide for Domestication and Registration of Domestic Workers and Employers in Nigeria” organised by the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment, and Productivity.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Babangida Hussaini (APC, Jigawa North-West).

The committee, which is chaired by Sen. Diket Plang (APC, Plateau-Central), took submissions from several stakeholders.

Making his contribution, Sen. Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo-West) recommended that N70,000 be included in the bill as the minimum wage for domestic workers.

Izunaso stated, “As a member of this committee, I feel strongly that part of the provisions to be included in this bill is to include domestic workers, be they housemaids or servants, in the proposed N70,000 national minimum wage law.

“As N70,000 is being planned to be the minimum wage for the lowest public workers, so should be the case for the least domestic workers.

“We are going to put it in the bill for implementation by all employers.”

The senator also suggested that the purpose of the bill should be expanded to reflect the registration and protection of domestic workers and their employers.

The NCWS toed the line of Izunaso, as its Acting National President, Mrs Geraldeen Etuk, argued that paying workers at that level, N70,000, would go a long way towards enhancing their livelihood.

But, during an interview, the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Hussaini, expressed doubts over the possibility of including domestic workers in the minimum wage, much as the bill received generous support from stakeholders across the board.

He explained, “There is no point in making a law that cannot be implemented, but I am happy that the generality of stakeholders at the public hearing supported the bill and, by extension, the proposed law.

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