Labour leader, Comrade Issa Aremu, has called for prosecution of governors and private employers not paying minimum wage.
Aremu described as diversionary and unnecessary the bill seeking to remove minimum wage from exclusive list to concurrent list.
According to the Vice President Industriall Global Union, only President Muhammadu Buhari and the two labour ministers have mandate to make pronouncements on labour, thus governors, National Assembly members and other lawmakers can only complement such laws and policies by improving on it.
Addressing the media in Kaduna on Sunday, Aremu, who is a member of the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC) said, “the controversial private member bill sponsored by Hon. Garba Datti Mohammed representing Sabon Gari Federal Constituency in Kaduna state, which seeks to move minimum wage from Exclusive list to Concurrent list is unhelpful, uninformed and diversionary.
“The controversial bill had passed second reading without a public hearing at the House of Representatives in February, a situation decried by labour watchers as lacking transparency and accountability. Should the bill become law, Federal Government will not have exclusive jurisdiction to determine a national minimum wage and states will now have the power to determine their own minimum wages.
“The sponsored bill shows a scandalous disconnect between some representatives and the people they claimed to represent. It was unacceptable that some legislators lack sufficient knowledge of 1999 Constitution which rightly puts critical factors of development like labour, capital and land on the exclusive list to promote a planned and balanced economic development of Nigeria.
“All federations maintain minimum labour, health, safety, pension, welfare and financial standards, failing which sustainable and harmonious development is impossible.
“The 1999 Constitution envisages good governance and welfare of all persons in consolidating the unity of our people, which explains why it directs that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens.
“My fear is that under the separation of powers or true federalism, some governors would want to print their currencies, have their CBN, put working age at 10, criminalise pregnancy at work, deny pension. That will no more be a federation but fiefdoms, and you know few governors are loud mouthed emperors of the 18th century in 21st century.
“All elected and appointed officials should avail themselves of knowledge about labour market issues. Recently, labour issues have become all comers affairs, even as labour like money and capital markets is a specialized and the most important factor of growth and development.”
Comrade Aremu said since the second Republic with the enactment of the inaugural Minimum Wage in 1981 as demanded for by NLC’s Chatter of Demands. It’s a settled issue that national minimum wage determination is a federal executive affairs who through ministries of labour and finance, Bureau of Statistics, CBN has the data to engage organized labour and private sector before arriving at the national minimum to ensure decent, not slave work and productivity.