A wage is monetary
compensation or remuneration paid by an employer to an employee in exchange for
work done. Payment may be calculated as a fixed amount for each task completed
or at an hourly or daily rate, or based on an easily measured quantity of work
done. On the contrary, salary is a fixed regular payment made by an employer,
often monthly, for professional or office work done as opposed to manual work.
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The term “minimum wage”
implies minimum legislated remuneration of an employee whether in public or
private sector. In Nigeria
Like it or not, fresh
negotiations must start soon given the current harsh economic realities; a
higher minimum wage is inevitable. It is only Federal Government that has the
constitutional responsibility to legislate it; of course that does not mean
that the state governors do not have a say. The National Economic Council will
drive the process culminating in enactment of an act by the NASS.
One would like to see a situation where the economic well-being of the states
is taken into adequate consideration alongside the welfare of their
workers in determining the new minimum wage. We have states that are agrarian
while some are commercial/metropolitan just as some are rich in mineral
resources especially oil and gas. The proverbial saying that all fingers
are not equal sums it up! Were the state governments to behave like
the organised private sector, the South-South and Lagos states should
have been rewarding their unskilled workforce more than agrarian states like Benue .
