Minimum Wage: Senate is wrong

By Funmi Komolafe and Victor Ahiuma-Young

The decision of the Senate to delist the   national minimum wage from the Exclusive List   is the greatest disservice   done to Nigerian workers.

1000 naira notesIt is clear that the Senators do not understand the concept of minimum wage and also failed to consult widely .   It would appear that   the Senate decision was based on a   selfish   class   gang up to tame the unions but this will fail.
First is that the Senators failed to appreciate that the concept of the minimum wage is to protect the most vulnerable worker.

Secondly, Nigeria became a member of the   at independence in 1960 and  is therefore not unaware of  Minimum Wage Fixing Convention  ,No. 131 of 1970 and the Minimum Wage Fixing Recommendation , No. 135 of 1970.

Perhaps , the  confusion arose from the inclusion of the other allowances in the national minimum wage package but this can be sorted out and the  national minimum wage be retained as BASIC SALARY ONLY.

Even then, this   should not and cannot be done by legislative fiat.   There must be collective bargaining.

Nigeria at independence ratified ILO Convention 98 on Collective Bargaining and Tripartism.  It appears the distinguished Senate is ignorant of this.    In 2000, President Olusegun Obasanjo ‘s government, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association ( NECA) after negotiation arrived at N5,500 basic national minimum wage and this was passed into law.

For this, the ILO singled out Nigeria for commendation.

According to an ILO report on “Definitions and objectives of the minimum wage standards” considered at the 2014 International Labour Conference”minimum wage may be understood to mean the minimum sum payable to a worker for work performed or services rendered, within a given period, whether calculated on the basis of time or output, which may not be reduced either by individual or collective agreement, which is guaranteed by law and which may be fixed in such a way as to cover the minimum needs of the worker and his or her family, in the light of national economic and social conditions”.

Did the Senators forget that as stated in the National Minimum Wage law passed in 2000, that there are exceptions?   An employer with fewer than five employees is exempted from paying the national minimum wage.

Perhaps unknown to the   Senators, the implication of what they have done is that  they just passed a vote to make the poor  poorer.   It means that workers will be exploited not just by Nigerians but by foreigners referred to as “ foreign investors”.

The ILO study  shows that the definition of National Minimum Wage varies from one country to another. Whereas in some countries it is simply the “ Basic pay”, others  define national minimum wage as total emoluments.

Nigeria  has a choice.

The first national minimum wage of N100 per month  was signed into law   in the second republic  of President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari after a national strike in 1981.

It will be recalled that  then Governor Abubakar Rimi of Kano state was the first to introduce a minimum wage in Kano state in 1980.

It is an irony that another civilian administration in 2014 wants to keep Nigerian workers in perpetual penury.

- Culled from: http://www.vanguardngr.com