The organised labour in Bauchi state has on Wednesday staged a peaceful demonstration against a planned bill for the removal of National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List.
Speaking at the premises of the state Assembly, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman, Comrade, Danjuma Saleh who led hundreds of his members to protest the bill that is currently at the National Assembly, said the planned removal is a declaration of war on Nigerian workers.
Comrade Saleh said they were at the state assembly to reject the anti-workers bill, pleading with the speaker of the Bauchi Assembly to use his position as the Chairman of the Nigerian conference of state Assembly speakers and mobilised his colleagues against it.
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According to him, “the NLC and the TUC have decided to embark on a national protest to draw the attention of the political authorities to the current move by the National Assembly to dabble into the issue of salaries and wages of teaming workers in the country both on public and private sector”.
He said that the move to transfer the national minimum wage from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list is an an affront to the legitimate workers’ rights.
Comrade Danjuma noted that the national minimum wage is enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria and in line with the global standard as backed by the ILO convention to which Nigeria is a signatory since 1961.
“The purpose of our visit to this important institution of the masses under your leadership is to convey the message of workers displeasure and call on the sponsors of this bill to discontinue forthwith”, Comrade Danjuma said.
He said that the organized labour will not stand aloof to watch the hard-fought legitimate rights been bastardized and jettisoned, vowing to use all available means within the ambit of law including industrial strike to drive home their demand.
While expressing hope that the speaker will step down the message to his colleagues as their Chairman with a view to looking at the action of the house of representatives and advice where appropriate.
Responding, the speaker of the Bauchi state house of assembly, Rt. Hon Abubakar Y. Suleiman while welcoming the organized labour, pledged to mobilised his colleagues at the state assemblies against the bill.
“Even though the action of our senior colleague at the National Assembly is in line with his constitutional requirements and responsibility, however, it is not out of place to consult widely before embarking on any mission or action that touches the life of any citizen, let alone, an important institution like organized labour”, the speaker said.
