My bill on minimum wage part of restructuring — Rep Datti

Last Wednesday, the organised labour staged a nationwide protest over moves by the National Assembly to transfer minimum wage from the exclusive to the concurrent list. The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Garba Datti Muhammad (APC, Kaduna), in this exclusive interview, denied claims he is being sponsored by governors. The ranking lawmaker, however, said the bill is part of the recommendations of the APC committee on restructuring.

Your bill is generating uproar in the country. What do you want to achieve with it?

• EXCLUSIVE: Why I recommended Bawa for EFCC job – Malami
  Despite N134bn allocation, senators, reps seek more funds

Whenever there is the issue of minimum wage and after the stipulation of the minimum wage, there is always a controversy between the labour and the state governments. Most of the states will claim that they cannot pay. They are not paying and there is no consequence for not implementing it. Even the N18, 000 that was agreed upon in 2010, some states, up until today, are not paying.

There is a fundamental distortion here, particularly, by the labour organisation to say that we are against N30, 000. We are not against it but we are saying that since the cost of living is not the same in the states, the cost of living in Lagos, Ekiti, Yobe and Taraba are not the same, and there are other variables, several economic and socio-economic indices. What you pay as rent in Abuja is enough to buy you a small bungalow in another state because the cost of living is not the same. So, workers there can agitate for more than N80, 000 base on some of these indices and the productivity of that state. We feel that it is an abnormality in the first instance, to place it in the exclusive list. At the time, the labour is citing that Nigeria signed the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention of 1928 that was domesticated in 1961. As of 1961 in the First Republic, the issue of labour wage was on the concurrent list and not the exclusive. All over the world, this is the practice.

What we are saying is that labour can, as a central body, now sit with the state governments and negotiate for each state based on the capacity of that state. Most of the state, they always give two or three option: One is either to downsize or retrench more than half of their workers or to borrow since they have no way to pay or sit and negotiate what they can pay.

The issue is before the National Assembly. It has been sent to the ad-hoc committee on Constitution Review for more legislative action. What we expect the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to do, as a civilised organisation, is to get ready and go for the public hearing. This public hearing will give everybody the opportunity to come to the National Assembly and argue. This is just the beginning of the process because, after the public hearing, the committee will now sit and vote. If it scales through, they will write a report and present it to the house. In the house, they will look at each of these reports, clause by clause. It is voted for and after that, it will be transmitted to the senate. If the Senate concurs, fine but if they reject it, that is the end of it. If there will be a modification, then there will be a conference between the Senate and House. From there it is taken to the 36 states to either support or reject it. After that, they need 24 out of 36 states to agree and from there, it will be sent to Mr President to assent to it or decline his assent.

The labour leaders see it as an attempt to review the national minimum downward. How will you react to this?

That is misinformation. We have never said that. Nobody is talking about the federal. This is for the states, let the labour decides because some states are not paying. What is labour doing to make sure that these states obey the law?

I saw the president of NLC accusing me of being sponsored by nine governors, although he did not name them. I am waiting for him to name them. Even by age, I am older than the national president of NLC as well as by experience. I can’t be left-handed at my age for somebody to use me. I am old and experienced enough to know what is right and what is wrong.

So, who is sponsoring you, if not the governors?

How? How do you sponsor someone? How many bills did I bring to the National Assembly, did somebody sponsor me? Has anyone come to me to say who asked me to do it? There are so many other issues that people are bringing in to remove from the exclusive to the concurrent list. The very day I brought that, there was another one for correctional services to be taken away from the exclusive to the concurrent. It has always been there.

As I said, parliament is a law-making institution and labour should change its tactics. It can’t achieve anything through threat and blackmail. We are in a democracy and the will of the majority must prevail.

Is the bill part of restructuring?

Well, if you look at it that way, yes, because of the people who are calling for the national conference, there is no need because the constitution is very clear. We, in the National Assembly, can do it. We have the power to do it. We said the centre is overburdened so some of these powers have to be returned to the states.

To the southerners, especially their pressure groups, restructuring is the way to go. They believe that northerners are afraid of it. Why are you, a northern lawmaker, pushing for it?

I don’t know the views of the southerners but as an experienced and high ranking lawmaker who has stayed for long and seen a lot of things, I think the time has come for us to look at some of these things because they have kept on reoccurring for a very long time. And as I told you, even in the First Republic, the issue of the minimum wage was on the concurrent list.

Let me make a clarification that I am not making it for anybody. When I brought it to the floor of the House, it was argued by the majority of the members based on the merit of the bill and not on sentiment or emotion. But based on the facts that I made available and some, based on their research.

As a member of the APC NEC, is this bill part of the recommendations of your party’s restructuring committee, chaired by Governor Nasir El-Rufai?

Yes, the committee recommended this and many other issues on restructuring. Like issues of state police. In the past, some people are against it, but now, whether we like it or not, we have to go back to that. We have seen even without state police, some areas are now recruiting people to make some arrangements similar to state police. We have people that know the terrain and know where is where. You can’t just take somebody from Anambra, Ogun and Bayelsa to say go to Sambisa or the forest in Zamfara and fight the bandits. It is better to have people from that area do it.

Are you doing this with the backing of the Kaduna State governor?

Well, I did not discuss it with him but as I told you, I am a member of the APC NEC. I was there when these issues were ratified. As a member of the NEC and National Assembly, I have the right to bring it to the National Assembly as a bill.

But people are saying that the Kaduna State governor is one of those pushing the bill through you?

No, it is not true. If the governor will push anything, he has so many ways to do it. Everybody knows El-Rufai that he is somebody who doesn’t pretend. If he was the one, I am sure he would come out to say, yes, I am the one and these are my reasons. So it is not true. El-Rufai did not ask me to do anything.