The Federal Government has assured workers in the country that state governments have no right to reduce minimum wage because the N18,000 was decided on agreement.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige made this statement when he met with leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress.
Ngige said “When the NLC joined the governors in talking about minimum wage, with the governors saying we can’t pay N18,000 minimum wage and NLC says it is time for us to ask for increase, we now know that these are talks that are heating up the system.
“The NLC knows better that the governors are playing politics. This is one matter that you cannot play politics with because it is a matter of rule of law.
“The law in place now is the Minimum Wage Act enacted by the National Assembly and the National Assembly derived their power from the Exclusive List of the constitution which gives them power to make laws on labour related matters including minimum wage.
“So, anybody who wants to talk about minimum wage should go to the National Assembly or ask the President to send an executive bill which can be discussed and it will be a tripatite discussion, involving public hearing.
“Please let a sleeping dog lie, because this country is going through a very difficult time now and requires your prayers and support. Nobody can reduce wages now. If anything, if you have more money, you pay higher.”
Ngige also assured NLC that FG will update laws protecting the rights of workers. He said “The third thing which is also one of the pillars of government is the fight against corruption. Corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of the Nigerian system that if you are not corrupt, you look abnormal.
“The labour laws need some tinkering because some of them are very old. Even the penalty that are prescribed in them are very old. You see some laws which says that if people abuse expatriate quota, they pay a fine of N2000. It doesn’t make sense.
“As a ministry, we will look at all these laws and with the Attorney General of the Federation, we will make sure that we fast track some of these laws so that the necessary penalties that are commensurate with labour offences committed are meted out to the offending parties. We will be needing your input.
“We want to reinvigorate our laws and give the Nigerian workers a decent work environment as prescribed by the ILO conventions.”
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