… FG offers N62,000; Labour reduces demand to N250,000
… Report to be forwarded to the President for further deliberation
This is as Organised Labour has reduced its demand to N250,000 from N494,000.
It was also gathered that the Organised Private Sector, OPS, is backing the government.
Following the disagreement, the Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage, NNMW, has adjourned.
According to the source, “there was disagreement on the amount. The government offered N62,000 and Labour offered N250,000.
“The report is to be communicated to the President for further deliberation on the next line of action. Let us wait for the President to receive the report.”
It will be recalled that organised labour’s negotiating team walked out of the committee meeting on Tuesday, May 22, for the second time in two weeks after the Federal Government increased its offer to N60,000 from the N57,000 it offered on Wednesday, May 22.
Labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, walked out of the tripartite committee meeting on May 15 after the government offered N48,000 and Organised Private Sector, OPS, offered N54,000, against the N615,000.
Goni Aji, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee, while speaking to journalists, said the recommendation “followed deeper understanding of all the economic studies, the state of the economy, availability, affordability, capabilities, current rate of inflation, sustainability.”
According to him, “caution has been displayed all throughout the negotiations, so that a figure that will further throw the country into confusion was not announced.
“This is because if any party goes into an agreement of a figure that it knows it cannot afford, it is going to create another problem for the country.
“But I thank God that we came together in all wisdom with the recommendation that is going to Mr. President.”
He disclosed that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, and his Kwara State colleague played strong roles in arriving at the recommendation.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour, expressed happiness that the process has been completed and appealed to all the parties to work together for the enactment of the minimum wage.
“We have done our job, and thank God that we have come to the conclusion of the negotiations.
“We did not expect that everybody would operate on one page because there are certain considerations that we have to look at. Having come to this end, I pleaded that we should work together to move the nation forward.”
But the TUC President, however, stated that “the organised labour believes that the workers deserve a better minimum wage than the N62,000 the government team has recommended based on the current economic hardships.
“We have to come down; you know, initially, we started from N615,000, and today, we are making a recommendation of N250,000 to Mr. President for onward transmission to the National Assembly.
“There is nothing like majority proposal because labour creates wealth. We will also reach out to Mr. President and to all the authorities to ensure that a better wage is given to workers.
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