LAGOS— Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos State Council, has commended the House of Representatives, for initiating a bill to criminalize late and non-payment of staff salaries by employers in the country.

House of Representatives, in the bill that has passed the second reading, proposed that employers, who fail to pay staff salaries as at when due, must be meant to face the wrath of law, just as underpayment of wages, pension as well as other emoluments would attract sanctions.

The penalties as stipulated in the bill would, among other things, include loss of 10 to 20 per cent of the value of the delayed salary by the company.

Lagos NUJ gave the commendation against the backdrop of reported cases of non-payment of staff salaries by many companies including media houses in the country.

In a Communiqué issued by the Chairman of the Council, Deji Gbolahan-Elumoye and  Secretary, Sylva Emeka-Okereke, after the March 2013 Congress of Lagos NUJ, in Ikeja, Lagos, the Council urged the House of Representatives to ensure that the bill was not truncated by those at the corridors of power.