House To Meet Organised Labour Over Minimum Wage

The House of Representatives is expected to meet with the Organised Labour over the lingering crisis related to the new national minimum wage.

The resolution was passed following the motion on ‘Personal Explanation sponsored by Kelechi Nwogu.

The House resolution comes barely 24 hours after leadership of the Organized Labour, which proposed N497,000 against the earlier N615,000, however, rejected the N54,000 proposed by the Federal Government and the Organized Private Sector (OPS).

In his lead debate, Nwogu drew the House’s attention to the provision of Order Eighteen, Rule 11 (5) of the Standing Order of the House, relating to the timeframe for submission of reports.

He noted that 80 days after the House, on Wednesday, 6 March 2024, passed a resolution on a motion titled ‘Need to Provide Living Wage for Workers in Nigeria,’ the joint Committees on Finance, National Planning and Economic Development, and Labour, Employment and Productivity were yet to submit a report on the matter.

He also noted that in view of the impending strike action by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), and the need for the House to be proactive in preventing the strike, the Committees should be discharged of the mandate and the matter referred to an Ad-hoc Committee of the House.

To this end, the House mandated the Body of Principal Officers, in conjunction with the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, to interface with the Organized Labour and report within one week.

The joint National Executive Committee of both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had at the last meeting held in Abuja, unanimously issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclude the process.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji