Organised Labour has said a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers must be ready before the end of July.
The president, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, stated this when he received the Special Adviser on Labour Matter from the Kogi State Governor, Onuh Edoka, and his delegation in Abuja.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors of Nigeria’s 36 states remained silent on the minimum wage issue after a crucial meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) Thursday.
Many Nigerians and Organised Labour groups had anticipated that both the federal government and the states would address the matter, which has been unresolved since the removal of the fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, the day Tinubu assumed office, and the expiration of the N30,000 minimum wage agreement from 2019.
After the NEC meeting, the governors who briefed the press did not address or take questions on the minimum wage issue.
Meanwhile, Festus Osifo said he is hopeful that the new minimum wage would be announced, passed into law, and its implementation begin before the end of July.
Osifo said that there was a need for the National Tripartite Negotiation Committee, made up of government, labour, and organised labour, to find a common ground so that the bill would receive prompt attention from President Bola Tinubu as well as the National Assembly and be passed into law.
He said: “What we are working on from both labour centres is that before the end of July, we should have a new minimum wage that must have passed through the processes and that must have been assented to by the President so that the plight of the workers will improve much more.
“So that the economic challenges that we are facing as a country will be improved upon so that an average worker will be able to go to market and buy one or two things to take care of his or her family because of this skyrocketing inflation that we have in our country.
“As you are aware, Labour has submitted N250,000, the government and organised private sector N62,000. Let both parties come together; let all parties come together.
“We will resolve and have a common front so that the President will be able to send the bill to the National Assembly, and at the end of the day, we will have a new national minimum wage. This is key; this is a topic that is germane for all labour unions today in Nigeria.”
