Wage deregulation

[Punch]

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria on Friday raised the alarm over plans by the Senate to introduce parliamentary dictatorship through the deregulation of wages.

The association, however, told Nigerians to be prepared "for a long-drawn battle to save Nigerian workers from further impoverishment in the event that our lawmakers fail to listen to wise counsel."

The President of ASCSN, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Mr. Alade Lawal, in a statement obtained by Saturday PUNCH, asked the House of Representatives and the 36 state houses of assembly not accept wage deregulation like the Senate "because its negates the wishes of the Nigerian people and would bring the entire legislature into public odium."

According to the ASCSN, a National Minimum Wage all over the world was legally binding on all employers, who are compelled by law to pay the benchmark and not anything below it.

The association posited that by providing that the Federal Government should stipulate a minimum wage for its workers and the states for their employees, the Senate made no provision for a minimum wage for millions of Nigerians working in the private sector of the economy.

The Punch