NLC Rejects APC Panel’s Proposal On Minimum Wage, Local Govts

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the aspects of the recommendations of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism that states should fix their own minimum wage and the scrapping of local government councils as a tier of government.

The Congress said it would mobilize Nigerians to reject the proposals.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the recommendation was a contradiction to the global best practices and the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which Nigeria is a signatory to.

He said: “That cannot happen because it will contravene our constitution and the ILO convention which Nigeria is a signatory to because minimum wage is on the exclusive legislative list globally.

“That is to tell you the type of people we are dealing with. That is not acceptable to us because it contravenes all known laws and procedures as minimum wage cannot be determines by a state. You can see in the case of the governors that their own wages is not determined by their states, but by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

“But that makes that of the workers even more compelling because there is a global standard. Most countries of the world, including the United States has a minimum wage law that is national. States can fix above the national, but they cannot fix below what is proscribed as the national minimum.”

On the recommendation that local government be scrapped as a tier of government Wabba “that is even a contradiction because they are contradicting themselves. Anywhere around the world, even in the United States, you have the county.

“In the context of Nigeria, if you look at the history of our development, the local government has played a very essential role in making sure that development is taken to the grassroots.

“The governors have actually been the problem of the local government because they have been the ones utilising the funds of those local governments. They have also usurped the economic, social and political powers of the local government. That is why they want to continue in that light and that cannot take us anywhere.

“I am sure that our National Assembly members will rise up to the challenge. So, our agitation will start immediately because we have rejected all of that and we are going to engage the process seriously. ”

But the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, described as commendable the recommendations of the Governor Nasir El-Rufai Committee.

The IYC said the committee to reasonable extent accommodated some of the agitations of the Ijaw.

The IYC Secretary General, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, in a statement, commended the courage and understanding behind the timely recommendations.

But he expressed fears of the sincerity of the party and the Federal Government to pursue the implementation of the recommendations.

He said: “The recent recommendation by the El-Rufai-led committee on restructuring set up by the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC) is commendable. Mostly the aspect that recommends state ownership of onshore mineral resources including oil.

“This is clearly not the whole of what we want because we desire total control of our resources onshore and offshore, but it is certainly a giant leap towards what we have Aalways agitated for as Ijaw people.

“We salute the courage and understanding behind this timely recommendation. However, we worry that this may be political and not backed by sincerity. Recently, the federal government promised the cleanup of Ogoni land and till date we have not felt funding of that programme.

“We were also told that the IOCs would relocate to the Niger Delta and till date we have neither seen the political will nor a memo from the Presidency to ensure their relocation to the Niger Delta.

“If the APC-led Federal Government is sincere, let them show sincerity by immediately setting up various committees and put to work all stakeholders to ensure the recommendation is achieved in the shortest possible time before the 2019 elections.

“If not we would see this as a strategic scam. We are also calling on all southern members of the National Assembly to take this up as a project. We call on their colleagues from other parts of the country to support them in this struggle to reposition the country for better productivity”, he said.

But the The Action Democratic Party (ADP) said  it did not believe the APC was sincere.

National Chairman of the party, Yabagi Sani said in a statement signed by Director of Media Kayode Jacobs that the new position of the APC on restructuring was a political gimmick.