The Nigeria Labour Congress announced today that it would push President Bola Tinubu for a minimum salary of N250,000 when they meet at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.
Benson Upah, the NLC’s Head of Public Affairs, stated that Labour would not compromise on its N250,000 plan when meeting with the President.
“Despite the fact that the cost of living has since increased, we are still going to the table demanding N250,000.” We have acted in a very patriotic and reasonable manner,” Upah said our correspondent.
In keeping with Tinubu’s pledge to have additional stakeholder consultations on the minimum wage, labor representatives were invited to a meeting with the president. Approximately one month has passed since the President stated in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
On June 25, the Federal Executive Council, chaired by the President, stepped down deliberation on the new minimum wage memo to allow for more engagement with stakeholders ahead of the planned executive bill.
The President took the decision after receiving the report of the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.
The report, which Akume received from the Chairman of the Tripartite Committee, Bukar Goni Aji, recommended a minimum wage of N62,000 based on submissions by federal, state, and organized private Private Sector.
At the close of consultations, Labour recommended N250,000, but the state governors said they might be unable to pay N62,000. The labour unions said the current N30,000 minimum wage was no longer realistic, citing the current food inflation caused by the twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the forex windows.
Two days after the FEC meeting, Tinubu and Vice President Kassim Shettima met with the governors and ministers at the 141st meeting of the National Economic Council to deliberate on the new minimum wage for workers.
However, the outcome of their meeting was not disclosed. The minimum wage talks had dragged on for some time, with organized labor, government representatives, and the private sector failing to reach a consensus. In anger, the labour unions declared an indefinite industrial action on June 3, crippling economic activities and government operations nationwide.
The unionists shut down airports, hospitals, banks, the national grid, banks, the National Assembly, and state assemblies’ complexes. However, the industrial action was suspended after the labour leaders held a meeting with top government officials, who gave assurances that the government was willing to increase its offer.
President Bola Tinubu set up the tripartite committee in January to negotiate a new minimum wage for workers ahead of the expiration of the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 in April 2024. The committee comprises organized labor, representatives of federal and state governments, as well as the OPS.
