The National Assembly has resolved to ensure that states, local governments, and the Organised Private Sector stop defaulting on the payment of the approved minimum wage.
A source who spoke to Punch on the condition of anonymity said that the National Assembly may even consider seizing allocations of states and local governments that fail to comply with the new minimum wage.
This is as the National Assembly announced plans to include a clause that will provide clear sanctions for defaulters of the new minimum wage bill that will be passed after receiving the Wage Award Bill from President Bola Tinubu.
While speaking with the aforementioned publication, the National Treasurer of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Hakeem Ambali, called for the political will to enforce sanctions against states, local governments, and members of the Organised Private Sector not complying with minimum wage laws.
According to him, the National Assembly’s move was not new, adding that the former Minimum Wage Act also contained clauses for sanctions, even though they were not strong enough to deter defaulters.
Such clauses have always been in the bill. This will not be the first time that they will be included in the bill. But, the political will to enforce that caveat really matters, though the provision was not strong in the last minimum wage act. If the Senate can do the needful and also oversee the implementation, it will be the best thing for Nigerian workers,” Ambali stated.
Regarding sanctioning defaulters, he said, “Any sanction proposed should be strong enough to deter them from disobeying that law.
For the state governments that haven’t fully complied with the N30,000 minimum wage payment, all of those in that category have been identified by Labour, and some of them have started approving the new minimum wage.
That shows that it is all about the inability or deliberate refusal to pay due to a lack of priority for workers. Sadly, they are doing themselves harm because workers are the engine rooms that drive development. A happy and well-motivated worker is a very good asset to productivity and development.”
