Association Cautions Legislature Against Wage Deregulation

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The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), on Saturday advised the House of Representatives and the 36 State Houses of Assembly against the deregulation of wages.
The advice is contained in a statement signed by Messrs Bobboi Kaigama and Alade Lawal, the association’s President and General Secretary respectively, in Lagos.
It held that the implication of wage deregulation was that every employer in Nigeria would pay any wage that satisfied his or her whims and caprices.
According to the statement, the practice all over the world is that all employers are compelled by law to pay the national minimum wage benchmark and not below it.
It faulted the House of Representatives for stipulating minimum wage for federal and state government workers and none for the private sector workers.
“The essence of a national minimum wage is to ensure that poor workers are statutorily protected from employers who, left alone, will prefer to pay them peanuts.
“This is why consecutive governments in Nigeria, including the military, have subscribed to the philosophy of national minimum wage, as contained in Convention 131 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“More than 170 countries ratified the ILO Convention, Nigeria inclusive”, the statement said.
The statement said that deregulation of the minimum wage, if allowed, would lead to anarchy in the industrial sector.