The Senate and the National Council for Women Society (NCWS) have sought for inclusion of domestic servants in the proposed 70,000 naira National Minimum Wage Scheme.
This was highlighted during a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity on a bill for an Act to Provide for Domestication and Registration of Domestic Workers and Employers in Nigeria.
The Senator representing Imo West Osita Izunaso as well as the Acting National President of NCWS Geraldeen Etuk especially argued for the inclusion of domestic servants in the proposed National Minimum Wage law and asserted that part of the provisions to be embedded in the bill is the inclusion of domestic workers (housemaid or servants) in the proposed 70,000 National Minimum Wage Law, for implementation by all employers.
“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,” Senator Izunaso said.
“As N70,000 is being planned to be the lowest wage for the lowest public workers, so should be the case for the least domestic workers. We are going to put it in the bill for implementation by all employers.”
The Chairman of the Committee Senator Diket Plang also noted that an agency will be set up for implementation of the proposed law. The operations, he says, will be driven by the Ministry of Labour and Productivity.
