Leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has stated that it will resist moves by the Senate to remove minimum wage and other labour matters from the exclusive legislative list, saying such move is not in the interest of workers and ordinary people.
The Senate committee on the amendment of the 1999 constitution chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, is reportedly planning to move minimum wage to the concurrent list in its review of the 1999 constitution.
At a forum organised to mark the 95th birthday of Nelson Mandela in Kaduna, NLC Vice-President, Issa Aremu told journalists that the move by the Senate to remove labour from the exclusive list will compound so many problems in the country, including leaving workers at the mercy of state governors, adding that the union will resist the move, even if it means marching on the streets again.
As part of efforts to resist the move, the labour leader called on the House of Representatives not to support the debate on the grounds that such a plan is not in the best interest of Nigerian workers and ordinary people.
Aremu in his speech, called on Nigerian political leaders to emulate the leadership qualities of Mandela by delivering good governance to the people and shunning politics of bitterness.
While attributing the current political crisis in Rivers state, Boko Haram insurgency in the north and high unemployment rate in the country to failure of good leadership, Aremu noted that such conflicts can be tackled only when leaders are sincere and sensitive to the plights of those they govern.
NLC therefore called on the senate to use the occasion of Mandela’s birthday to reverse the decision and be on the side of reason and justice by ensuring that all labour matters remained on the exclusive list, in the interest of industrial peace, harmony and national security.
If this report is accepted by the House of Representatives and the required numbers of concurring votes by states’ house of assembly are secured, it means the federal government and state governments will be able to separately fix intra state wages with no fresh agitations to worry about.
