NECA Tasks National Minimum Wage Committee on Job Creation, Security of Employment

Dike Onwuamaeze

As  negotiation for a new national minimum wage is gradually sliding to a stalemate, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) yesterday urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to focus on job creation and job security in view of the increasing number of unemployed youths.
Speaking in Lagos, the Director General of NECA, Mr. Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, stated that “what the committee was inaugurated to negotiate is a minimum wage and not a general salary increase as it is being peddled.

“It is the minimum amount that no employer should pay. However, employers with more capacity can pay above it.”
He said that variables such as productivity, competence and skills should be the key variables and driver of wage increase.

“It is disheartening that the survival of business enterprises, who ordinarily are the biggest creator of jobs, has been relegated to the background.
“It is no secret that many organisations have either left the country or reduced their capacity utilisation, thus fuelling the rising unemployment rate.
“It is our firm belief that in our current economic situation, a 100 per cent increase in the national minimum wage is sufficient to drive growth and enable a path towards wealth creation, enterprise sustainability and economic renaissance.
“We reiterate that what is being negotiated is a national minimum wage, to enable the most vulnerable employee and not a general salary increase,” he concluded.