By Enyichukwu Enemanna
In a bid to promote the welfare of Nigerian workers and to foster industrial harmony, the Nigerian Senate says it will give the new National Minimum Wage Bill an expeditious consideration when received from the Executive arm of government.
The organised labour had included a new national minimum wage as one of the conditions to suspend for 30 days, a planned strike earlier in the week. The federal government says a committee will be set up on new minimum wage.
“Efforts of the Federal Government and the Organized Labour for agreeing , to set in motion, necessary machinery to review the current Minimum Wage in Nigeria as contained in the memorandum of understanding signed by the negotiating parties , are commendable”, Senate Committee Chairman on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Senator Diket Plang said in a statement on Friday.
While assuring that the 10th Senate and by extension, 10th National Assembly, remains committed to improving the living conditions of workers as well as in tackling the unacceptable level of poverty in the country, he was quick to add, “The Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity under my chairmanship, is prepared to give expeditious attention to the passage of a new Act, once negotiation on the matter is concluded and such bill transmitted to the National Assembly for enactment”.
Plang applauded the federal government for taking proactive steps to avert the proposed nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and their affiliates, even as he urged all parties in the industrial dispute not to renege on agreements reached, which among other things include the availability of mass transit buses across Nigeria to mitigate the high cost of transportation arising from the removal of fuel subsidy.
“Nigerians and particularly members of this committee , are happy that the then looming industrial unrest , was averted by memorandum of understanding entered into by the federal government, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC)
”However , all the parties involved , should avoid reneging on any of the agreement reached”, he said .
Labour had argued that the current minimum wage of N30,000 is grossly inadequate for Nigerian workers as inflation continues to rise.
In his Independence Day message to Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu has announced a provisional increase of N25,000 for every low-level federal government worker, which was later increased across board to N35,000 for the duration of six months.
