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abujagirl
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Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state have urged labor unions not to oppose plans by the National Assembly to decentralise the fixing and payment of minimum wage.
Both governors insisted that in a democracy, states could fix their own minimum wage irrespective of he fact that the central government had fixed its own.
Speaking in Ikeja on Friday while inaugurating the South West Zonal Office of the National Pensions Commission (NPC), Fashola said, "I think the time has come for us to speak openly and honestly for what we believe in. We may disagree but we should try and agree at the end of the day".
"The labour union has a position on the decentralisation of the minimum wage, perhaps they would listen to another position".
"For us, it is not who makes the law that matters, it is whether or not the Nigerian worker gets a fair pay for a hard job".
"Who makes the law and who has the responsibility to manage it only detracts us from the main issue".
"If we are decentralising the management of pensions and it is making sense, why can’t we decentralise payment of wages?"
"This is a federation; payment of wages should not be imposed on the states".
On his part,Fayemi said, "If we are truly a federal entity, states should also have a minimum wage at the state level, rather than the imposed minimum wage".
"I remember that at the early stage of our independence, workers in the Western Region left the federal public service to work in the state public service because the salaries were higher", he added.(NAN)
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