The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has stated that it will fight to keep Labour on the Exclusive Legislative List.
On Tuesday in Abuja, NLC President Ayuba Wabba issued a statement headlined “Labour on the Legislative Exclusive List.”
He pointed out that labor concerns are now addressed under Item 34 of the Second Schedule, Legislative Powers, Part 1, Exclusive List.
Industrial relations; conditions, safety, and welfare of workers; industrial disputes; prescribing a national minimum wage throughout the federation or any portion thereof; and industrial arbitration, according to him.
“Labor should not be one of the elements that should be ceded to the states for the sake of our national interest, security, and industrial harmony,” he stated.
Wabba highlighted that the country states’ labor legislation draws heavily from International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, protocols, and recommendations, as well as other instruments domesticated through Acts of Parliament, in explaining how it came to be on the Exclusive list.
He went on to say that this explains the near-uniformity of labor regulations across the world, as well as the global industrial order, harmony, and attractiveness to foreign investment.
He stated that this was in recognition of the fact that 17 days after independence in 1960, Nigeria, under a democratic administration, rectified and domesticated ILO Conventions 87 and 98, ensuring the freedom to organize and bargain collectively.
