The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against removing labour from the exclusive list.

In the statement by its president, Ayuba Wabba, NLC noted that labour issues were presently domiciled in the Second Schedule, Legislative Powers, Part 1, Exclusive list, Item 34.

”For the sake of our national interest, security, and industrial harmony, labour should not be one of the items that should be devolved to the states,” Mr Wabba said.

Explaining how it came to be on the exclusive list, the NLC boss noted that the nation-state’s legislation on labour derives substantially from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, protocols and recommendations, and other instruments domesticated through the acts of parliament.

Mr Wabba added that Nigeria had since adopted all the core conventions in its capacity as a sovereign nation and regularly attends ILO organ meetings as a sovereign in line with international best practices.

He argued that deregulating labour to the states would create problems. 

”Secondly, a corpus of labour legislation across the 36 states and FCT will almost certainly create a judicial nightmare,” he said.

Mr Wabba also stated that the development could further scare investors away, “as they will consider this as an unnecessary addition to the already hostile operating environment.”

He reiterated that ”in the light of this, we will strongly advocate against removing labour from the Exclusive Legislative List. Not even during the military era was this contemplated.”

The NLC president further stated that the reasons for Nigeria’s relative industrial growth and development and evolution into an investor’s haven were partly attributed to its willingness to subject itself to this global order and corpus of international labour standards.

(NAN)