“Clearly, I don’t want to quote a specific date because I know how interwoven the process can be. We are committed to watching the process and following up. And anywhere we think there is a deliberate delay, we will respond adequately to every challenge along the way.”
A new national minimum wage law is possible within two weeks if the presidency submits the bill this week to the National Assembly for passage, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) affirmed yesterday.
In an exclusive interview in Abuja, NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, told The Guardian that with the tremendous goodwill the organised labour enjoys at the National Assembly, lawmakers would expedite action on the bill.
His comment followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s receipt yesterday of the report of the tripartite committee on the review of the national minimum wage. While government stuck to N24,000, the organised labour insisted on N30,000.
Wabba said: “The organised labour wants to assure the Nigerian people that once the report is submitted today, labour would be considering what timeframe we think would be sufficient enough for the presidency to transmit it to the National Assembly.
“For the work of the National Assembly, we are very certain because we have an understanding with the leadership of the Assembly that the new minimum wage bill will not take more than two days to consider because what would be presented is an amendment of the existing 2011 National Minimum Wage Law. While passing the bill does not require a long process, most members of the two chambers of the National Assembly are well informed about all the issues that surround the minimum wage bill.
“Clearly, I don’t want to quote a specific date because I know how interwoven the process can be. We are committed to watching the process and following up. And anywhere we think there is a deliberate delay, we will respond adequately to every challenge along the way.”
Also reacting on the wage issue, Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), took on the Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige. “Just imagine him saying N24,000 is enough to feed a family of four. And that if labour thinks it is too small, they should go to the farm and see how difficult life can be. I was aghast that a minister under this government could utter such horrible words. What he said was provocative and the organised labour should request Ngige to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerian workers.”
