The Federal Government has on Thursday announced that the implementation of the National Minimum Wage was critical to national development, via Ngige.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, at a public enlightenment and sensitisation workshop for field officers monitoring the implementation of the National Minimum Wage in Abuja, which was organised by the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission.
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Ngige explained;
Ensuring compliance with the National Minimum Wage Act would ensure that workers were not short-changed.
A satisfied worker would contribute effectively and efficiently to the sustainability and growth of an enterprise. This will in turn contribute to national development and less disruptions in productivity, occasioned by industrial actions.
There is an urgent need, therefore, to ensure a minimum living wage to all employed and in need of such protection and attain a just and equitable share of the fruits of progress.
Speaking further, he said the formal and informal sectors were represented during the collective bargaining mechanisms that produced the Act.
He said with that, no establishment could claim ignorance or non-involvement in reaching the collective bargaining agreement on the minimum wage. He stated that all establishments were bound by the Act.
On the workshop, the minister said the training was critical to implementing the mandate of the ministry and the NSIWC.
He noted that Section 12 of the Act, titled “Monitoring and Compliance”, indicated that the Ministry would collaborate with NSIWC to monitor the implementation of the national minimum wage.
Ngige said;
It is also their responsibility to keep social partners informed of the process, to address any identified non-compliance with provisions of the act. The workshop is meant to enlighten and sensitise the stakeholders who are statutorily assigned the duty of monitoring and ensuring compliance.
I hope you will be drilled thoroughly in the art of interaction with capital and labour and the inherent dialectics between the factors of production to protect rights at work.
He added;
I also hope that at the end of the workshop, you will be knowledgeable of the act and adequately arm yourselves in execution of your monitoring and enforcement duties.
