Negotiations on a new minimum wage between organized labour and the Federal Government are set to continue on Wednesday after labour rejected the government’s offer of N48,000 to N54,000.
Labour’s initial demand was N615,000 and they refused to lower their proposal.
At the first meeting of the Tripartite Committee, the private sector proposed N56,000. The governors’ offer is anticipated today, as their representatives promised to consult and present an offer.
However, a labour source at the meeting described the Federal Government’s new offer as unacceptable and criticized the governors for their absence from the Tripartite meetings.
The Goni Aji-led Tripartite Committee adjourned the meeting until today to allow the governors to make an offer.
A labour source explained, “The consensus within the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress is a wage that can adequately take care of a family for a month. This new offer (N54,000) fell below what we expected. We want a minimum wage that will be able to take care of a family.”
“It is also sad that governors have not been attending the meetings, despite having six representatives (one from each geo-political zone) in the 37-member committee. Only one of them sent a representative to yesterday’s meeting, who said he was not given any mandate to speak at the meeting. That is why the meeting was adjourned till tomorrow (today). This is a serious matter between labour, the organized private sector, and the government.”
“The Federal Government said they are presenting N54,000. We said no. We are hoping that by tomorrow (today), the meeting will find a way of bringing the governors to the round table so that we can be talking even if we disagree.”
“It is not only today (yesterday) that the governors have been absent from the minimum wage meetings. Since they attended the first time, they have not attended again except for Prof. Charles Soludo of Anambra State who joins sometimes through Zoom. Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago has been sending representatives.”
Another source expressed hope that the governors would join the meeting today.
“By tomorrow(today) at 4 pm when the meeting will sit again to continue the negotiations, we will hear the governors’ input and then reveal our position,” he said, noting that they have already discussed with the Organized Private Sector (OPS).
“We have met with the OPS and discussed. We did this because we are poised to do everything possible to ensure that negotiation is concluded and Nigerian workers have a new minimum wage by May 31. We are very serious about taking actions in the interest of protecting and promoting the welfare of Nigerian workers. We will do our best to ensure smooth negotiation.”
The tripartite committee was inaugurated on January 30 to establish a new minimum wage. The current N30,000 wage, in effect since 2019, expired on April 18. The Federal Government pledged on May 1 to implement the new minimum wage starting from April 1.
