The recent warning issued by the federal government to agencies recruiting for the private sector to adhere to the N70,000 national minimum wage or risk jail is a welcome development. The move is a renewed hope for the private sector workers and, indeed, those of some sub-national governments. It also signals a new dawn for the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage Act, which had, hitherto, been brazenly violated with impunity.
According to the federal government, the new minimum wage is necessary to address the current economic reality, emphasising that no Nigerian worker, whether in government or private employment, should be paid less than the minimum wage.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar, stated this last week while speaking at the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Employers Association for Private Employment Agencies of Nigeria (EAPEAN), held in Ikeja, Lagos.
Abubakar, who was represented by the Director of Employment and Wages of the ministry, John Nyamali, said, “The minimum wage is now a law, and as a result, it is a punishable crime for any employer to pay less than N70,000 to any of its workers.
“The private employment agencies should make it compulsory in any contract they take from their principal that their workers should not earn less than the minimum wage. The least paid worker in Nigeria should earn N70,000, and I think that should be after all deductions. The minimum wage is a law, and you can be jailed if you fail to implement it. The federal government is committed to ensuring that the least paid worker goes home with N70,000.”
In his remarks, the President of the EAPEAN, Dr Olufemi Ogunlowo, asked the federal government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to clarify whether the N70,000 minimum wage is net or gross, stating that all ambiguities in the Act should be highlighted and explained.
According to Ogunlowo, the EAPEAN is already committed to the minimum wage, providing decent jobs for Nigerians, and guarding against the exploitation of human resources. “As an employers’ union in the private sector, we are committed to implementing the minimum wage. We are a law-abiding and guided association. Our principals and clients have also keyed into the minimum wage. However, the government must clarify whether the N70,000 minimum wage is net or gross. The government and NLC should address all ambiguities in the minimum wage”.
Speaking at the programme, the Chairperson of the NLC, Lagos State Council, Funmilayo Sessi, said the prevailing hardship had made a mess of whatever income any worker was earning in Nigeria, calling on private employers to ensure the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage.
She said, “The N70,000 isn’t enough in the current economic realities. By the time the consequential adjustment is concluded, all private employment agencies should immediately start paying their workers the N70,000 minimum wage. The NLC in Lagos state will see to the strict enforcement of the minimum wage. EAPEAN should avoid confrontation with the NLC on the minimum wage”.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had in July assented into law the National Minimum Wage Bill 2024, pegging a minimum wage N70,000 for Nigerian workers in both the public and private sectors. However, the Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Gombe state, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, had hinted that many governors cannot afford to pay the new national minimum wage of N70,000.
Speaking during a meeting with organised labour, civil society organisations, and traders associations at the Government House in Gombe, Governor Yahaya emphasised that the limited allocation from the federation account will make it impossible to implement the new national minimum wage at the state level.
“It will be difficult for me to pay the N70,000 minimum wage, and I suspect many other states are in the same predicament. Even the previous minimum wage of N30,000 was a struggle for many state governments to implement, not to talk of the N70,000 amidst the current economic situation, which makes it even more difficult,” he said.
Consequently, Blueprint is of the view that the enforcement of the provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act 2024 is the right foot forward towards compelling recalcitrant and errant governors and their cahoots in the private sector to be law-abiding with regards to the payment of the national minimum wage.
We also urge the federal government not to restrict the justiciability of the National Minimum Wage Act to the payment of salaries to workers in active service alone. The criminalisation of the National Minimum Wage Act violation should also encompass the national minimum pensions. Reports that some pensioners, including those of the federal government, particularly under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), receive a paltry N500 as monthly pension is injustice carried to the extreme, and must be redressed.