THE leadership of the National Assembly has again expressed its resolve to accelerate the passage of the new minimum wage law for Nigerian workers when transmitted for consideration by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas gave the assurance in Abuja, during the opening of a one-day retreat on ‘Labour reforms and the quest for living wage in Nigeria: A Focus on Legislative intervention’, organised by National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), for Chairmen and Members of joint Senate and House Committees on Employment, Labour, and Productivity.
In his keynote address, Senator Akpabio who frowned at the failure of some Subnational Governments that failed to implement the current N30,000 national minimum wage, however, argued that with increased monthly allocations from the federal purse due to the removal of fuel subsidy, expressed optimism that “all States will abide by the new minimum wage when finally determined and legislated.”
While acknowledging the dynamics of fixing minimum wage varies from one country to the other, Senator Akpabio averred that Nigeria has its own peculiarities and laws that guide the national minimum wage.
“A brief insight from the Nigerian situation will help to illuminate this position. One, like all other countries of the world, Nigeria’s labour market has two segments, namely the public and private sectors. However, the public sector workers are the most affected by increases in the minimum wage for two main reasons. First, it is not proper for the government to violate its own law. Second, nearly all public-sector workers are unionised. Violations can therefore be resisted and counterproductive.
