‘Labour Can Force States To Pay Minimum Wage’

The Organised labour unions in the country can actually force defaulting states to pay minimum wage to their workers as expected.

This assertion is coming from Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, who also avers that the Federal Government has initiated a lot of reform programmes that would lift people out of poverty in the near future.

Akume who spoke yesterday in Abuja at the end of a two-day pre-retirement summit organised by XEM Consulting Ltd, said that the labour unions however had a responsibility to enforce concerned government to pay minimum wage as agreed.

Represented by Permanent Secretary, General Services Office, OSGF, Dr Nnamdi Mbaeri, , the SGF advised the unions not to leave the enforcement to the federal government alone.

“So, as we are discussing paying pension, I will also throw it back to labour; you have the duty to enforce the compliance of these laws; it is not just the question of complaining.

“You should be able to come in; ensure the compliance of these laws by the relevant stakeholders.

“Federal Government can come up with a policy and issue circulars, but then the onus lies on those who are monitoring the implementation to ensure that lack of compliance should be sanctioned.

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“Whether it is minimum wage or pension, the best law that can be made is the law you can enforce; if you make an omnibus law that you cannot enforce, that law is good as nothing,’’ he said.

To pay minimum wage or not, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, said her office was working on something else with potential of improving the working conditions of Nigerian workers.

She said this is coming by way of a remodelling of the existing health insurance programme.

The essence of the remodeling she said was to accommodate retirees, adding:

“Presently, on your retirement day, the next thing that happens to your National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) enrollment is that it stops.

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“But we are working on insurance…NLC President mentioned the military having retirement camps; the military also had health care schemes for retirees; you just appear in the hospital, and all we need to see is that they are treating you.

“We need to collaborate as civil servants and public servants so that the new policies that we are trying to formulate will work; we must be ready to believe in it”, the head of service, who was represented by a director in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation ,Dr Comfort Adeosun.