Implement law on regular review of minimum wage, former NLC President tells FG

A former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwaheed Omar, has urged the Federal Government to always implement the law on regular review of the national minimum wage to promote national growth. Omar gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday. He said that the call […]

A former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwaheed Omar, has urged the Federal Government to always implement the law on regular review of the national minimum wage to promote national growth.

Omar gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

He said that the call for government to tackle the issue about minimum wage review had become important because of the delay in the implementation of the law.
According to him, the national minimum wage law prohibits employers from hiring workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly take home pay.

“The law was established to address issues faced by workers, I think the cause for review of the national minimum is welcome; it is just that it is almost belated.
“The issue of minimum wage is an aspect of our law; it is now part of our law in Nigeria, so I did not even expect that it will take much time.

“In the first place the law provides that the minimum wage should be reviewed every five years; the five years elapsed since 2015.

“So, I had expected that that very year government should have set up a tripartite committee then.

“It is not something that government should wait until NLC threatens to embark on strike before it sets up committee, it is about the law that should be respected,” Omar said.

He said although government had promised to review the national minimum wage by the third quarter of the year, it should put measures in place to sustain such and ensure effective implementation.

He said the N18, 000 minimum wage was long overdue for review and urged government to act promptly to improve the economic well-being of workers. (NAN)