By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
The National Assembly will include a clause in the minimum wage bill to sanction defaulters in the implementation when passed and signed into law.
The lawmakers would also expedite action in passage of the Wage Award Bill once President Tinubu sent it to them.
This hint was given to press by the Senate spokesperson Yemi Adaramodu
Adaramodu stated that the National Assembly has resolved to ensure that states, local governments, and the Organised Private Sector stop defaulting in the payment of the approved minimum wage, even as the National Assembly announced plans to include a clause that will provide clear sanctions for defaulters of the new minimum wage bill which will be passed after receiving the Wage Award Bill from President Bola Tinubu.
He also disclosed that the President would send the bill after the National Assembly resumed from the Sallah recess on July 2.
Recall that in his Democracy Day broadcast on Wednesday, Tinubu had promised to forward a bill on the new minimum wage to the National Assembly soon.
The Federal Government and the Organised labour have been at loggerheads over the new minimum wage, with union leaders demanding N250,000, while the Federal Government and the OPS offered N62,000, whereas state governors maintained that they could not sustain a minimum wage higher than N60,000.
Labour unions have repeatedly dismissed the government’s offer, labelling it a “starvation wage”.
The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, stated that Organised Labour would not accept the latest offer of N62,000 or the N100,000 proposal suggested by some individuals and economists.
Expressing concern over the labour leaders’ demands and the potential economic repercussions, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated on Wednesday that the N250,000 minimum wage proposal could destabilise the economy, lead to mass disengagement of workers and jeopardise the welfare of Nigerians.
Despite labour’s firm stance on the N250,000 minimum wage, the President emphasised that the government would pay workers what it could afford.
Addressing concerns about compliance, especially given the fact that some states still pay the old N18,000 minimum wage, while others comply with the current N30,000, Adaramodu assured that the new bill will be “watertight”.
He added, “We will ensure it is strictly adhered to as law. The bill will include provisions for sanctions against non-compliance.”
“We are going to produce a watertight bill that we are proposing for the President to sign to ensure that it is strictly adhered to as law. For now, let’s not speculate on the details that the Federal Government will include in the bill to be submitted to the National Assembly.
“But, when it comes, whatever is there and whatever is not, we will ensure that it’s watertight and obeyed by all,” Adaramodu stressed .
“When we talk about the minimum wage, is it just about the Federal Government? It seems like it’s a fight between the Federal Government and labour. That’s the way everybody is looking at it. We keep mentioning the Federal Government, President Tinubu, and labour. We don’t even talk about the Organised Private Sector or the sub-nationals. The NLC, which recognises the workers in the organised private sector and the sub-nationals, needs to advocate for them,” Adaramodu added.
“The issue of some states still paying N18,000, though I don’t know because I don’t suspect that to be happening. If some states are paying that, what have the labour unions in those states done to ensure compliance with the N30,000 minimum wage? We need to ask them too. But, like I said, the National Assembly will make this law seriously watertight, with sanctions for non-compliance, whether at the state, sub-national, or organised private sector level,” Adaramodu stated.
The Senate spokesperson said that if such measures were not taken in the past, the 10th Assembly would ensure sanctions for defaulters of the newly agreed minimum wage. “That’s how it’s going to be done this time around. But the labour centres also need to protect the welfare of their members, not only with the Federal Government,” Adaramodu
emphasised.
