Senate, women society seek inclusion of domestic servants in N70,000 minimum wage
Story from Uji A. ILIYASU
The call for the inclusion of domestic servants in the national minimum wage scheme came from both the Senate and the House of Representatives chambers in the National Assembly during a public hearing on a Bill seeking for an Act to provide for domestication and registration of domestic workers and employers in Nigeria.
The public hearing on the Bill, sponsored by Senator Babangida Hussaini (APC, Jigawa North West), was organised by the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, chaired by Senator Diket Plang (APC, Plateau Central).
The call for the inclusion of domestic servants in the national minimum wage was spearheaded by Senator Osita Izunaso (APC Imo West), during his remarks at the public hearing.
“As a member of this committee, I feel strongly that part of the provisions to be included in this Bill is to include the domestic workers, housemaid or servants, in the proposed N70,000 national minimum wage law.
“As N70,000 is planned to be the lowest wage for the lowest public workers, so should be the case for the least domestic workers.
“We will put it in the Bill for implementation by all employers.”
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He, however, suggested that instead of domestication and protection of domestic workers and employers, the intendment of the Bill should be changed to registration and protection of domestic workers and their employers.
In a similar call, the acting national president of National Council for (NCWS), Mrs Geraldeen Etuk, argued for the inclusion of domestic servants in the proposed national minimum wage law.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Diket Plang, said an agency would be set up for the implementation of the proposed law, but the Ministry of Labour and Productivity would drive the operation from the outset.
Proof resding, editing by Uji A Iliyasu, Editor at Neptune Prime
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