On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu will meet with the Organised Labour in Abuja to continue the conversation over a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership have been called by the President to a meeting that is scheduled to take place in the Aso Villa in the country's capital city, a top labor source told Channels Television.
The ₦62,000 government and private sector proposal and the ₦250,000 organized labor demand are expected to be decided upon by the President.
The President stated in his June 12, 2024, Democracy Day speech that the Thursday gathering will take place around one month after that During his June 12, 2024, Democracy Day speech, he announced that the National Assembly will soon be receiving an executive measure pertaining to a new national minimum wage for workers.
In order to allow for further interaction with stakeholders, the President-chaired Federal Executive Council (FEC) withdrew from its consideration and deliberation of the memo on the new minimum wage on June 25.
Two days later, at the 141st meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), Tinubu and Vice President Kassim Shettima convened with ministers and governors of the 36 states that make up the Federation to discuss a new minimum wage for workers.
Long Stroll to New Salary
There have long been discussions about raising the minimum wage for Nigerian employees.
The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which set the minimum wage at ₦30,000, expired in April 2024. The Act stipulates that it should be reviewed every five years to reflect the modern economic demands of labor.
President Bola Tinubu established a Tripartite Committee in January to negotiate a new minimum wage for workers, consisting of representatives from the federal and state governments, organized labor, and the organized private sector.
Nevertheless, the committee members were unable to come to a consensus on a new, realistic minimum wage for workers, leading labor to declare an indefinite strike on Monday, June 3, 2024. As a result, businesses were rendered unable to operate as the labor unions shut down hospitals, airports, the national grid, banks, the National Assembly, and state assemblies' complexes labor "relaxed" its strike on June 4, 2024, following assurances from the President that he was committed to a wage above ₦60,000.
Both the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership subsequently resumed talks with the representatives of the Federal Government, states, and the Organised Private Sector. On Friday, June 7, 2024, the two sides (labor and the government) still failed to reach an agreement. Labor claimed that a wage of ₦30,000 could no longer provide for the well-being of the average Nigerian worker
The government increased its initial minimum wage offer to ₦60,000 from ₦494,000 to ₦250,000, while the workers were offered ₦62,000; both parties submitted their reports to the President, who is expected to make a decision and send an executive bill to the National Assembly for passage into law.
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