The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has said that the Federal Government is looking into the request for an upward review of the national minimum wage in order to come up with a suitable response.
While receiving the executive members of the Organization of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) in Abuja on monday, Ngige said that the present administration is a labour-friendly government that will ensure that their request is well attended to.
According to him, the government has put every machinery in motion, all targeted at meeting with the NLC’s demand, as he has gotten a letter seeking his advice as the Minister of Labour and Employment.
“The other day, labour requested increased wages for workers and they have only done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, nobody will quarrel with them.”
“At the appropriate time, we shall all sit down because what the labour is asking is for the re-negotiation of an existing Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA).”
And every CBA-based agreement is subject to re-negotiation at any given time that any of the partners request it.”
He also dismissed rumours of labour being at loggerheads with the federal government as a result of the demand, said machineries are being put in place to look into what he described as a ‘legitimate call’ by the NLC.
The minister stated that the Change anthem of the current administration is geared towards changing the way things are done for the better.
He reiterated that labour is part of the tripartite arrangement of the International Labour Organization structure which Nigeria is signatory to.
In response, the OTUWA president, Comrade Mademba Sock, noted that the 30-year old organization in 2015 took far-reaching decisions to revive and reposition OTUWA,
He said the decision to re-locate its headquarters from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire to Abuja was to enhance its operations since the headquarters of ECOWAS was in Abuja.
