Federal Ministry of Labor and Employment officials, once again, had a disagreement with lawmakers. This time, it was with members of the Senate Committee on Banking , Insurance, and other Financial Institutions, at a public hearing on Wednesday.
The hearing is on two bills: Banks and other Financial Institutions Act Cap B3 LFN 2004 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2020, and Electronic Transaction Bill 2020.
The first bill seeks to amend the laws governing banks , financial institutions and financial services companies as well as enhance efficiency in the process of obtaining / granting banking licences.
It also seeks to clarify and accurately delineate the regulatory roles of the Nigerian Central Bank in the financial services industry, and to amend and incorporate the regulations for the enactment, licensing and supervision of micro-finance banks in the country.
The other bill legalizes electronic transactions and makes online fraud criminal.
Ministry delegates attended to make submissions to the regulations.
However, when called upon, the Director of Productivity and Labour Standards at the labour ministry, Eyewumi Neburagho, who represented the minister, demanded that both the hearing and the bill be suspended pending when the Senate committee would formally invite the ministry and send a copy of the draft bill to it.
Apparently, the labour ministry was not among the stakeholders invited to the hearing.
Mr Neburagho wondered why the government, as a big stakeholder, wasn’t brought along. He emphasized the need for the ministry to realize how this will impact employees ‘ needs.
“Although the ministry has never seen the bill and was not invited to this public hearing, we felt constrained to make an intervention in view of the information that section 45 of the bill is intended to make legislation to cover matters relating to labour administration and industrial relations, which matters are within the purvey of the Federal Ministry of Labour.”
He further stated that Nigeria had ratified convention no 144 of the ILO on tripartite consultation, the traditional standard of labor. The ratification means that the Nigerian social partners, including governments and employers of workers’ groups, shall meet and dialog among themselves in order to achieve consensus on the new law or policy in question, in pursuing a mechanism of enacting any global policy or legislation.
“We in the Ministry of Labour and Employment have not been availed or presented with a copy of the said bill on which this public hearing is called.
“Rather, in view of the interventions of the Nigerian Labour Congress on part of the bill as it affects the issue of labour legislation, we will like to state that this public hearing be stepped down until the bill is circulated to all social partners to ascertain if the bill meets international labour standards and best practices and our aspirations to enhance decent working, promote fair labour practices and ensure industrial harmony in the economy.
“…the ministry of labour and employment wish to propose that the bill and the public hearing be stepped down until the labour issues in the bill are sorted out in the appropriate tripartite consultative forum. On the other hand, the sponsors of the bill may wish to expunge the labour aspect of the bill and go ahead with the areas on digital financial transactions,” he said.
His demand was not well accepted by the members of the panel, who insisted on continuing the legislative process on the bill.
The panel’s chairman, Uba Sani, has also warned the ministry against dictating to the National Assembly how to conduct its affairs.
“We are federal lawmakers elected to make laws for the good of the country and we would not sit here and watch an appointee of an executive arm of government dictating to us on how to conduct our procedure.”
Whether the panel will send a copy of the legislation to the ministry as other stakeholders were called upon to make their contributions to the bill was not resolved.
For weeks now, the strained relationship between lawmakers and the ministry has been continuing after scandals surrounding the Special Public Works program aimed at hiring 774,000 Nigerians.