It is illegal for states to determine minimum wage, says Falana SAN

* Urges media to boycott parade of suspects

It will be illegal for states to determine what they can pay as
minimum wage, activist-lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has said.

According to him, minimum wage was deliberately placed in the
exclusive legislative list to ensure uniformity in application.

Falana was the guest speaker at a tweet conference/roundtable to
make the International Day to end Impunity for Crimes against
Journalists (IDEI) 2018.

It was organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) as part
of the Nigerian Journalists Internet Rights Initiative (NJIRI)
implemented by IPC with the support of the International Freedom of
Expression Exchange (IFEX).

Falana told reporters: “I have heard arguments that every state
should be allowed to determine what they can pay. But all the
governors earn the same salary apart from allowances and security
vote.

“All legislators earn the same no matter where they come from.
Every Senator earns about N15million per month. So on the ground of
equality, that argument cannot be sustained.

“Secondly, labour and industrial matters are in the exclusive
legislative list, deliberately so. Otherwise, you’ll have
starvation wages and state government that will not pay salaries at
all,” he said.

Falana said it was only when it involved addressing the terrible
living conditions of the poor that the government talks about
inflation.

According to him, the government does not cry about inflation
when duty waivers running into hundreds of billions are granted to
the rich, when legislators breach the constitution to fix their
salaries and allowances by themselves, or when a few rich Nigerians
owe billions in unpaid loans.

“You must also understand that this is a class matter. The
members of the ruling class, regardless of political parties, are
one and the same when it comes to addressing the problems of the
poor.

“So the legislators who earn N15million believe that if you
increase minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000, there will be
inflation. So, the government can pay if it wants to pay,” Falana
said.

Read Also: Falana to speak at IPC’s tweet, media roundtable
The Senior Advocate, in his lecture, said it was illegal and
unconstitutional to parade suspects before the media.

Such suspects, he said, are forced to confess to crimes when
they have not been charged with any offence, adding that only the
poor are usually paraded while the rich who commit more heinous
crime are not.

“The Nigerian Union Journalists (NUJ) can resolve not to cover
any parade of suspects by the Police,” he said.

The SAN, who enlightened journalists on media laws, said no
journalist can be charged under the law of sedition, as it was
“dead”.

Urging journalists to enforce their rights when violated, Falana
regretted that damages awarded by courts are class-based because,
according to him, “we’re operating a bourgeoisie legal system”.

He said he was challenging a provision in the Sheriffs and Civil
Processes Act which requires that a litigant awarded damages
against the government must first get the attorney-general’s fiat
to initiate garnishee proceedings against the same government.

Falana urged the NUJ to deal with the menace of quack
journalists, regretting that “in Nigeria everybody is a
journalist.”

On law of libel, the SAN said retracting a defamatory story does
not remove the writer’s responsibility in law.

He said a retraction and apology can only reduce the damages if
given the same prominence as the original story, which he said can
lead to the court awarding “nominal” damages.

Media Rights Agenda Executive Director Mr Edetaen Ojo urged
media organizations to do more to protect journalists. “Do media
organizations train reporters on safety?” he asked.

At the event were journalists, activists, bloggers, among
others.