Nigerian Govt Says Minimum Wage Transfer To Concurrent List Won’t Work

Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Saturday assured workers in the country that the proposal to transfer of the national minimum wage from the executive list to the concurrent list would not work.

It said the minimum wage was a national law that should be complied with by the states and the private sector.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who stated these at the 2021 May Day celebration in Abuja on Saturday, said, “A tripartite clause arrangement which coordinated the government enacting the national minimum wage on April 18, 2019, and the President in signing the law made it clear that the law takes effect on that day.

“That law is a national law; it is not that which you can choose for anybody that falls within the ambit of that law. It is not a question of pick and choose. We moved the national minimum wage from N18,000 per month to N30,000; it is an irreducible clause and we need a social protection mechanism.

“We, therefore, expect the states and people in the private sector to comply. Amendment or trying to expand that law or trying to bring the law into the concurrent list of the institution will not work.”

Earlier, the President, NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba, described an attempt to remove the national minimum wage to the concurrent list as a mischievous effort to foment crisis, chaos and anarchy in the country.

“Our argument for the retention of the national minimum wage on the exclusive legislative list is to also propel the fact that the minimum wage is a tool for social inclusion and poverty reduction for Nigerian workers.

“It has been a catalogue of workplace and trade union rights violations. First is the criminal refusal by some state governors to pay the new national minimum wage and consequential increase in salaries, thus violating the workers’ rights,” the NAN quoted Wabba as saying.

“We have already directed all our state councils to down tools if any governor remains adamant about paying the new national minimum wage,” he added.

Wabba further said the weakness of the social protection system in the country worsened the pain and frustration of workers amidst the challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.