Minimum wage must remain in the Constitution’s Exclusive List – Peter Esele


By Deborah Coker

The former President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Mr Peter Esele , says national minimum wage should and must remain in the Exclusive List of the Constitution.

Mr Esele made the disclosure in Benin ,Edo state capital during an interview  with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) .

 According to the former TUC  President, it is the prerogative of the Federal Government to fix national minimum wage.

He said the position of some stakeholders that fixing  of the minimum wage should be removed  from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent  is what he considered as  dereliction and abdication of responsibility by those in power.

Recall that some state governors have argued that national minimum wage should be in the Concurrent List to allow states of the federation to determine their minimum wages independently

“It is very unfortunate that the National Assembly would want to take away national minimum wage from the Exclusive List.

“In other parts of the world, to fix the national minimum wage is the prerogative of the Federal Government which is domiciled in the Legislative Arm.

“Even America, the capital of capitalism, national minimum wage is fixed by the Congress.

“As I’m talking to you, President Joe Biden has proposed a new national minimum wage of 15 dollars per hour against the present 7.5 dollars per hour and negotiation is on-going.

“In some other states in America, they are already paying 15 dollars per hour minimum wage.

“The meaning of minimum wage is barest minimum. You can pay more than that.

“National minimum wage means nobody should be paid below the agreed wage.

Esele also said that for the National Assembly to tinker with the idea of moving the national minimum wage out of the Exclusive List amounted to  taking workers and Nigerians for granted.

He said that merely discussing the issue was an unfortunate development and showed the disdain and contempt with which the political class treated workers.

Is that their own approach to their own pay? Have they declared how much they take from the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission?

“What these political office holders are doing is that once they get into office, they want to do whatever they like to burnish their own image and interests and take away the right of others.

“National minimum wage should be negotiated every five years; that is what the Act says,’’ Esele said. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unuigboje drums support for Shaibu

Image
By Dada Ayokhai  A politician and technocrat from Owan West Local Government of Edo State,  Barr. Frank Dix Unuigboje has urged the  Edo North indigenes to cast aside whatever differences that may exist among them and come together as one indivisible entity to support their son, Hon Shuaibu and his principal, Gov. Godwin Obaseki, as they grapple with the challenges of bettering the life/ welfare of the people of the Edo State.  BARR. Unuigboje, who is still playing a vital role in the meteoric popularity of the PDP in Owan West and by extension, Edo North, is one of the party's leading lights and great mobiliser.  He made this clarion call in a chat with journalists  in Benin city, the Edo State capital.  Barr. Unuigboje singled out Hon. Shaibu for praises on account of his untainted loyalty to his principal, stating they hold the key to unlock the greatness and potentialities of Edo State. According to Barr. Unuigboje ,who was a former Edo...
Read more

Auchi Microfinance Bank groans under high customers debt profiles

Image
By DADA AYOKHAI  The management of Auchi Microfinance Bank (AMFB), yesterday, decried the high indebtedness of customers to the bank just as it urges customers to pay up in order to remain in business. Chairman of the financial institution, Hassan Momodu, expressed his resentment at its 22nd and 23rd joint annual general meetings of the bank in Auchi, Edo  According to him "We are using this medium to appeal passionately to our shareholders and the general public that are indebted to us to pay up to reduce our yearly provisioning and improve our profitability”,  Momodu also said that the increase in the fund in the period under review represented a 29 percent improvement on the fund. He maintained that the bank’s gross earnings within the period was N143.8million as against N131.1million in the 2018 financial year. The financial boss went further to say that the 2019 financial year’s profit before tax was N52.8million as against N11.125 million in 2018 while p...
Read more

Who is Governor Obaseki 's candidate for PDP National Deputy Youth Leader 's position?

Image
By DADA AYOKHAI The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic party, PDP, will soon engage in another political battle over the choice of candidate to fill the position of the National Deputy Youth Leader  microzone to the state by the party to be formalized at the National convention slated for October 30 and 31st. The Edo State PDP chairman, Dr Tony Aziegbemi according to source unanimously  conceded the choice of who occupied that position to the state governor in tune as the Leader of the party in the state. The state chairman's  action is said not to go down well with party leaders in the state who felt a meeting should be convened  to  draw necessary prerequisites  for the choice candidate. According to the group, the title  Leader of the party  bestowed on governor by the PDP arrangements,  does  not intend in any way makes  the governor a   sole administrator . Again, the  party leaders said the...
Read more