Civil servants urge N’assembly to reject plans to deregulate workers’ wage

THE Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to reject the recommendation by the Committee on True Federalism that wage and other labour-related matters should be removed from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List. The labour leaders posited that if wage and other labour-related matters were removed from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List, state governors, most of who are not paying workers’ salaries, would use the opportunity to further impoverish Nigerian workers and their families. A statement by the association’s National President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and the SecretaryGeneral, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, submitted that labour like other institutions such as the army, navy, air force, customs service and immigration are symbols of national unity and should accordingly be retained in the Exclusive Legislative List.

According to the union, the panel led by Nasir El-rufai did no research to establish the fact that all countries have national minimum wage. The ASCSN leaders warned that anarchy would prevail in the industrial relations arena if workers in the 36 states of the federation start forming their own trade unions and wondered how many unions would exist in the state and how negotiation would be carried out. They regretted that in this 21st century, those who parade themselves as governors and politicians in the country are incapable of comprehending the fact that all countries of the world fix national minimum wage below which no worker should earn precisely because the welfare of the people is the main reason why governments exist.