Senate instructs FG to include domestic workers in the minimum wage

The planned N70,000 National Minimum Wage Scheme has been attempted to include domestic workers by the Senate and the National Council for Women Society.

During a public hearing on a bill proposing an Act to allow for the domestication and registration of domestic workers and employers in Nigeria, representatives from both institutions at the National Assembly in Abuja called for the inclusion of domestic servants in the National Minimum wage.

The Senate Committee on Employment, Labor and Productivity, led by Senator Diket Plang (APC, Plateau Central), arranged a public hearing on the measure proposed by Senator Babangida Hussaini (Jigawa North West).

At the public hearing, Senator Osita Izunaso (APC Imo West) led the charge for domestic workers to be covered by the National Minimum Wage Scheme.

He said, “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 be it 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.”

However, he recommended that the bill’s modification be altered to register and protect domestic workers and their employers, rather than domestication and protection of domestic workers and employers.

In a similar speech, Mrs. Geraldeen Etuk, the Acting National President of NCWS, argued in favor of include domestic workers in the proposed National Minimum Wage legislation.

In an interview with journalists, the bill’s sponsor, Senator Babangida Hussaini, expressed his excitement about the bill’s broad support from different stakeholders. However, he acknowledged that there are doubts about the practical implementation of the bill’s additional scope, which includes including domestic workers in the national minimum wage. These doubts range from the Minister of Labour to other relevant stakeholders.

He said, “There is no point making a law that cannot be implemented but I’m happy that the generality of stakeholders at the public hearing, supported the bill and by extension, the proposed law.”

Earlier in the session, Senator Diket Plang, the chairman of the committee, stated that although an agency will undoubtedly be established to carry out the proposed law, the Ministry of Labor and Productivity will oversee the operation from the beginning.