NEW MINIMUM WAGE PROPOSAL UNDERWAY –NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would soon present a new minimum wage proposal to the Federal Government, President of the congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said yesterday.

The proposal is hinged on the elapse of the circle of the N18,000 minimum wage this year following the promulgation of the Act by the National Assembly in 2011.
Wabba made the disclosure when the NLC hierarchy visited Senate President Bukola Saraki where he urged the National Assembly to support the review of the current national minimum wage.
He said the NLC had indicated at this year’s May Day address, the National Minimum Wage is due for review.
According to him, the devaluation of the naira from N150 to $1, to about N242 to $1 underscores the grim situation for salary earners in the country against the fact that our economy is import-driven.
“The devaluation, in simple economic terms, means that the purchasing power of the ordinary Nigerian wage earner is grossly devalued,” he noted.
Besides, Wabba stressed: “As a result of this grim economic reality…congress will soon submit a New Minimum Wage demand, which we hope will be negotiated by the traditional tripartite negotiating team of Government, Employers and Organized Labour. Our hope is that when the end product of the negotiation is brought before the National Assembly for legislation, it would be treated with dispatch.”
Speaking on telephone to Daily Trust on how the NLC would arrive at a new minimum wage figure, its General Secretary Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson said “we don’t draw numbers from the heart. We gather information and analyse them and we arrive at a figure that captures current realities.
“It is the same method we have always used; we do analyses, we come out with a demand figure and then we go through the tripartite arrangement when government sets it up to then do the negotiation.
When we collect our information, all manner of relevant data, analyse, look at the economy, take things into consideration, we will determine an amount which will be our demand that is sent to government.”
The NLC also engaged Senate president on the budget of the National Assembly, saying the jerking up of the proposals from N23.347bn to N154.2bn during Senator David Mark era was questionable.
Wabba said Nigerians are concerned and want explanations on how the National Assembly budget was jerked up.
“The National Assembly budget which in 2003 was N23.347bn rose to N66.488bn in 2007 and then climbed to N104.825bn in 2008. In 2010, your Excellency, under the watch of your predecessor, the budget of the National Assembly reached an all time record jump of N154.2bn.
“To compound the problem of comprehension, your predecessor, obviously working with your colleagues in the red and green chambers, wrapped your earnings and expenditure in utmost secrecy and by 2011 the details of the budget were no longer accessible,” he said.
Responding, the Senate President, Dr. Saraki said there was nothing hidden on the budget of the National Assembly.
“There is nothing too much to sacrifice for the country but what is important is dialogue. We have set up a committee to look into it but I agree with you that we can still improve but there is nothing that is hidden,” he said.