The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has today appealed to president Buhari to hurriedly assent to the recent National Minimum Wage bill for Nigerian workers that was signed by both the chambers of National Assembly before 2019 workers day celebration.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr, Peter Ozo-Eson disclosed this in an interview in Abuja, he said the passage of the wage bill into law will signifies President Buhari promise for better welfare for Nigerian Workers to be fulfilled.
Accordingly, the secretary revealed it was recently rumoured that Mr, President has signed the bill into law and that has kept the workers hope alive believing that they may start enjoying as soon as the new minimum wage takes effect before the May Day celebration, however, their hopes were dashed out to be a false alarm.
Mr, Ozo-Eson added, the delay in assenting to the bill by President Buhari is building more tension for workers, as both Chambers of the National Assembly have passed N30,000 as the new national minimum, increasing the government recommendation of N27,000 recommended by the Executive council.
He said, “We have thought that going through the processes before arriving at N30,000. The long delay in setting up a tripartite committee, the long period before the tripartite committee concluded their job and all the debates that took place, our thought were that the committee were delaying Mr. President from assenting the bill. We demand that President Buhari append his signature and restore the Nigerian Workers hope alive.
The secretary said, “Our position is to call on Mr. President to without further delay ascent to the New National Minimum Wage bill. So that workers can start to enjoy the new minimum wage implementation before May Day.
He emphasized that apart from the public sector, workers in the private sector were also patiently waiting for the law to be approved in order to conclude its negotiations and plans, and he insisted that in implementing the new national minimum wage it would guarantee our economy to be operated in an environment of certainty.
