Labour leaders in Nigeria
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Organised labour comprising Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) has confirmed accepting the N70,000 minimum wage President Bola Tinubu approved for Nigerian workers.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information, had told State House correspondents that the president announced the offer at a meeting with the labour leaders at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, on Thursday.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of NLC, said the unions had accepted the offer.
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The committee, which comprised state and federal governments and the Organised Private Sector, had proposed ₦62,000 while labour insisted on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers who currently earn ₦30,000 as minimum wage.
Labour had said the ₦30,000 was unsustainable for any worker going by the economic vagaries of inflation and high cost of living which followed the removal of petrol subsidy by the President.
Last Thursday, the President met with labour leaders and called for realistic expectations as regards minimum wage. “You have to cut your coat according to available cloth. Before we can finalise the minimum wage process, we have to look at the structure,” Tinubu had said.
Flanked by Comrade Festus Usifo, President of the TUC, and other representatives of Nigerian workers, who attended the meeting, Ajaero said the unions agreed to the offer because of other incentives attached.
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“We were here last week. And we are here now. What they have announced in terms of the amount of ₦70,000 happens to be where we are now. But the thing about it is that we will not wait for another five years to come and agree,” Ajaero said.
The “agreement” between the two sides followed a series of talks between labour leaders and the President in the last few weeks after months of failed talks between labour organs and a tripartite committee on minimum wage constituted by the President in January.
On her part, Onyejeocha said Tinubu had also directed the Ministers of Finance and Budget, Wale Edun and Atiku Bagudu, respectively, to work out modalities on how to settle the issues with the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU).
The committee, which comprised state and federal governments and the Organised Private Sector, had proposed ₦62,000 while labour insisted on ₦250,000 as the new minimum wage for workers who currently earn ₦30,000 as minimum wage.
Labour had said the ₦30,000 was unsustainable for any worker going by the economic vagaries of inflation and high cost of living which followed the removal of petrol subsidy by the President.
Last Thursday, the President met with labour leaders and called for realistic expectations as regards minimum wage. “You have to cut your coat according to available cloth. Before we can finalise the minimum wage process, we have to look at the structure,” Tinubu had said.
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In his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, the President had said that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage for workers would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
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The information minister confirmed on Thursday that the ₦70,000 “agreed” amount would be communicated with the National Assembly in the coming days.
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