Minimum Wage: Committee Wants Periodic Review

The House of Representatives Committee on Labour and the
leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have advocated periodic review
of the National Minimum Wage Act to allow for increase in wages.

This is contained in a communiqué issued on Thursday in Uyo
at the end of a two-day retreat, organised for the leadership of the NLC and
the House of Representatives Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity.

The Tide’s source reports that the retreat had the theme:
“Improving Legislative Engagements between the Nigeria Labour Congress and the
National Assembly.”

The communique was jointly signed by the House Committee
Chairman on Labour, Mr Essien Ayi and the deputy president of the NLC.

It recommended that minimum wage and labour issues should be
allowed to remain under the exclusive legislative list.

The communiqué also recommended that the Pension Act should
be made dynamic to ensure inclusion of periodic upward reviews just as the
minimum wage.

The retreat called on the Federal Government to implement a
comprehensive social protection policy for its citizens as a mark of good
governance in addition to tackling inequality and insecurity in the country.

The communiqué urged the National Assembly to review laws on
Occupational Safety and Health to make them conform with the conventions of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO).

It further called on government to accelerate the process of
domesticating ILO Conventions on best practices in labour and employment
relations in Nigeria.

The retreat frowned at the prevalence of casual and contract
labour in Nigeria, urging the National Assembly and labour to enforce the
implementation of the Labour Act on decent and secured jobs.

The communiqué recommended a review of the bill on HIV/AIDS
and demanded that no provision should subject employees to test as requirement
for employment.

The meeting urged the House Committee on Labour to get the
leadership of the House of Representatives to organise a national retreat on
constitutional review for labour unions and civil society organisations.

It called for the inclusion of the Nigerian parliament and
labour in the recently established Nigeria-German Bi-national Commission to
strengthen democratic and development process in both countries.

The retreat, which was facilitated by a German-based
organisation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, had in attendance a member of the
German National Assembly, Mr Klaus Brandner.