The organised labour has again criticised political office holders over a bill which seeks remove minimum wage negotiations from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list.
The National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, during a meeting between the House of Representatives leadership and labour leaders on Tuesday, said restructuring of wages should start with political office holders.
At the meeting were the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila; Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Deputy Majority Leader, Peter Akpatason; sponsor of the bill, Garba Datti Muhammad; and representatives of relevant committees of the House.
Leading the labour side were Wabba and President of the Trade Union Congress, Quadri Olaleye.
Recall that workers, under the aegis of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, on Wednesday last week, held a nationwide protest against the bill.
The sponsor of the bill, Mohammad, had, at plenary on February 23, argued that it would allow both the federal and state governments to freely negotiate the minimum wage “with their workers in line with our federalism.”
But reiterating workers’ opposition to the bill on Tuesday, Wabba stated, “We are ready to defend our position. If we are to start restructuring of wages, I think it should start from the political class. When salaries were reviewed by 50 per cent in 2011; those of political office holders were reviewed by 800 per cent.
So, if it is about ability to pay. It should start from that stage. Our own is only the minimum wage while some are collecting the maximum wage.”
Currently the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, which fixes salaries and allowances of political office holders, has a uniform package for governors irrespective of the financial status of their states. The same thing applies to commissioners and speakers of state houses of assembly.
Countries with true federalism have central wage – NLC
Wabba, while faulting the argument that decentralisation of minimum wage would advance true federalism and restructuring, stated, “In the lexicon, I know that what we have is only federalism. There is nothing like true federalism.”
According to him, the United States of America, which has truly federal states, still maintains a central minimum wage.
He said some states were paying higher than the national minimum wage in the US, adding that some states in Nigeria also paid higher than the old N18,000 minimum wage.
The NLC president noted that Nigeria is a member of the International Labour Organisation, which is the first agency of the United Nations.
According to him, the minimum wage is part of the constitution of the ILO.
He said, “In Nigeria, we adopted the monthly wage system. In 1981 when the first minimum wage was promulgated, it was agreed by social partners that the monthly wage system be adopted by Nigeria.
“We have heard an argument that to encourage true federalism, the minimum wage should be removed from exclusive list.
When we negotiated the last minimum wage, we had six governors representing the governors and we received memos from all the states and some states even quoted N40, 000. The National Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria and other agencies provided the data that were used and at the end of the day, a consensus was arrived at.”
The NLC president also stated, “What happens is that when you fix the minimum, states will then go and discuss with their workers because what we are setting at the national level is just the minimum. There is a difference between negotiating consequential adjustment and the minimum wage.
“As we speak, all the 36 states have different salary structures based on the negotiation and ability to pay. This has been the process over the years. This issue is about the sovereignty of Nigeria as a nation because it is the country that will be held responsible and not the sub-national.
“We are saying that the minimum wage can only be legislated upon by the National Assembly which has been the tradition. Also, it is important to inform the members that once a convention is ratified, it is binding on the member country and not the sub-national.”
Wabba wondered who would fix the wage for the private sector if states were allowed to fix their wages. “We are not saying there must a uniform wage for everybody, but just the minimum. That is why Nigerian workers are at a loss and we feel that this is the first place to table our protest because this is the House of the Nigerian people,” he said.
Gbajabiamila, in his response, pointed out that lawmakers had the constitutional right to present bills and motions.
He urged the organised labour to either lobby representatives through their constituencies or articulate their arguments for presentation at the public hearing to be held on the bill or take them to public advocacy through the media.
The Speaker noted that those who had spoken for and against the bill had raised valid points, which should not be dismissed by either of the sides.
He also stated that the House would ensure that the final decision on the bill would be in the best interest of workers and Nigerians in general.