Facts have emerged that the National Assembly failed in its responsibility to find out the financial implications of the 18,000 minimum wage law, before it was passed, contrary to procedures in its Standing Rules.
Also, both the Presidency and state governors blundered on the matter.
It was gathered that the two chambers only rubber-stamped the N18,000 as contained in the bill forwarded to it by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The President, the 36 state governors and the organised labour, had reportedly agreed on the N18,000 minimum wage after a series of negotiations.
A senator, Mrs. Nkechi Nwogu, admitted that the passage of the minimum wage bill had some political consideration.
She said, “There was some element of political consideration; we did what we did given the available time at our disposal. Looking back now and the way governors are complaining, it seems that they do not have the capacity to pay.
“But I don’t think that N18,000 minimum wage is too much to be paid to fellow Nigerians. States should look inwards and optimise their internally generated revenue, along with doing a proper audit of their employees.”
But Senators Smart Adeyemi and Sekibo stressed that cuts in security budgets, profligacy and introduction of fiscal federalism would assist governors in implementing the new wage order.
Findings showed that pressured by election anxiety, key actors in the negotiation process seemed to have hurriedly approved the wage without answering the question of the capacity of each state to pay.
It was gathered that members of the National Assembly who passed the National Minimum Wage in March merely returned to President Goodluck Jonathan, the bill he sent to the legislature.
Senator Ita Enang, a former Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Rules and Business, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the NA adopted the bill Jonathan sent to it since the state governments had reportedly agreed that they could afford to pay the money.
Under the aegis of Governors Forum, the governors had requested 42 per cent of the shared national revenue to be able to pay, while some had hinted of reducing their number of aides.
However, the legislature, which has the power of appropriation, was expected to look at the financial implications of the wage and overrule the executive if it was convinced that some states might not be able to pay.
Under Standing Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule in Order XII Procedure on Bills (3), no bill is introduced in the chamber except if its financial implication is circulated to lawmakers.
This is underscored by the use of the word -”shall” in the relevant provision, which makes it mandatory.
Order XII (3) states, “On the introduction of a bill, a compendium of background information and financial implication of such bills if passed into law shall be delivered to all members.
“If it is an amending bill, an up-to-date consolidation of the Act or Acts to be amended shall be delivered unless the bill amends an Act previously in the Session.”
A source said that the current controversy would have been avoided if NA had obtained the monthly allocation of the 36 states from Federal Accounts Allocation Committee in order to know the financial capacity of each state.
The source further said that other critical inputs such as Internally Generated Revenue and workforce of each state could have been aggregated so as to arrive at a scientific result.
But by adopting what the President sent to the National Assembly, the issue of financial capacity to pay was glossed over.
However, Enang defended the NA, arguing that it had no reason to doubt the parties to the negotiation after they settled for the N18,000.
According to Enang, the figure was arrived at after a series of meetings between labour leaders and representatives of all the tiers of government.
He recalled that before the bill was sent to the National Assembly, Jonathan had presented the matter before the “National Economic Council and the Council of State; they approved it.”
Enang added, “Mr. President also consulted with all the state governors and none of them raised any objections.
“When he sent the bill to the National Assembly, we gazetted it; again, no governor complained.
“This bill was debated and passed unanimously in both chambers; there was no single dissenting voice. If the governors were under pressure because of election to endorse the new wage, they should say so.
“Their Senators and members of the House, who debated the bill on their behalf, did not oppose the bill. We passed exactly the figures Mr. President sent to us.”
The senator, however, advised that if the governors now realised that they made a mistake, they could forward an amendment bill to the National Assembly.
“Any state that has an objection to the Minimum Wage Act can send an amendment bill for repeal or an amendment through their senators or members of the House,” he told Sunday Punch.
Sekibo said the problem with the minimum wage implementation was the unfavourable fiscal federalism which failed to accept the fact that the constituent states should get more of the federation’s revenue.
He explained, “With true federalism, every state should be able to negotiate with its workers on what will be the minimum wage, instead of the Federal Government fixing the amount.”
On his part, Adeyemi said, “The President meant well when he sent the bill to improve the lot of Nigerian workers. We discussed the bill and realised that with the needed political will, state governments can pay.
“They should cut down on security votes, white elephant projects, foreign trips and corruption, and there will be enough money to pay the workers.”
Similarly, a former chairman of a committee of the House, which conducted a public hearing on the bill, Mr. Leo Ogor, said the House did not consider it necessary to oppose the negotiated N18,000 by government and labour.
Ogor, who is currently the Deputy Leader of the House, claimed that all the states were invited to the public hearing to get their views.
He stated, “Remember that labour was initially asking for N52,000, which the Federal Government and the states said they could not afford.
“We debated the matter extensively and later suspended the public hearing to allow labour and government to reach a compromise.
“This was the reason the passage of the Act was delayed for about six months.
“It was after the parties concluded their negotiation that the Executive sent us a paper saying that the minimum wage they could afford to pay was N18,000.
“It was not the National Assembly that forced the figure on them.
“What we did as a legislature was to simply perform the constitutional role in compliance with Section 4(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and item 34 of the Exclusive Legislative List.”
Ogor argued that it would be unfair for anyone to blame the failure of the states to pay the wage on the National Assembly.
“This was a matter that was thoroughly thrashed out between the parties involved and they all agreed to honour the N18,000.
“Why blame National Assembly now? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Efforts to reach the special adviser on media and communications to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, were not successful as he did not respond to calls or text messages sent to his mobile phone.
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