Minimum wage protest: Lobby your representatives to kill the Bill, Doguwa tells NLC

The Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Rep. Alhassan Ado Doguwa has advised the organised labour to lobby their representatives at the National Assembly to kill the Bill which seeks to remove minimum wage from exclusive list.

He gave the advice while addressing protesters at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

While commending the workers for their peaceful protest, he said they have channeled their grievances through the right channel.

“You are in the right hand and in the right place and the right institution which is a representation of the general membership of organized labour in Nigeria.

“From what I am seeing now, it is clear that organized labour is against that Bill. I want to assure you that the House of Reps would give a listening ear to your message.

“We will still invite you to come and engage with the relevant committee of which I am a member. You will come and make your position fully.

“Your position will be heard at the committee level and when we come to plenary to consider the bill, members that are representing your respective communities, engage with them to do justice to that Bill and I can understand that the only justice would be to kill the bill.

“I want to advise please lobby members that you elected that you do not want the bill and make sure the bill is killed,” he said.

The organised labour protested against a proposed Bill by Rep. Abbas Tajuddeen which seeks to remove the issue of minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent list.

This by implication means, states will be given absolute discretion to determine and pay minimum wage to their workers based on their incomes and other considerations without interference by the federal government.