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Oyo, Delta, Gombe, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states have supported a bill seeking to decentralise the negotiation on the minimum wage in the country.
Officials of the states, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Thursday, said centralised minimum wage negotiation negated the principle of true federalism.
But state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who spoke to our correspondents, expressed anger over the bill, saying it was against interests of workers.
Recall that the bill seeking to remove the negotiation on minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent list passed the second reading in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
According to the sponsor, Garba Datti Mohammed (APC Kano), the bill is to allow both the federal and state governments to freely negotiate minimum wage “with their workers in line with our federalism.”
During the debate at plenary, Mohammed said, “Many states have not been able to implement the national minimum wage because it was imposed on them from Abuja.”
The Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the state was in support of the bill.
He said, “To rent one room in Lagos is like renting a duplex in Ebonyi State. Why will you pay a man who goes through Lagos traffic daily and pays high transport fares, the same amount you will pay a man in another state who does not go through that?
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