President Bola Tinubu | File Image
.Labour slashes demand to N250,000, govt wants N62, 000
By Stella Woke
President Bola Tinubu is now the decider of what is to be Nigeria’s minimum wage.
This became apparent on Friday after several hours of meeting between the Federal Government and the organised private sector resulted in increased offer for the new minimum wage to N62,000 from the earlier N60,000.
But, the organised labour disagreed, proposing N250,000, which is a shift from its earlier N494,000.
This brings to an end the deliberations on the new minimum wage by the tripartite committee set up by the the Federal Government after several months.
The recommendations will be forwarded to President Tinubu, who is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action.
With the work of the tripartite committee, which was constituted in January this year coming to an end, the ball now shifts to the table of President Tinubu and subsequently that of the National Assembly.
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Though both labour, the organised private sector and the Federal Government had agreed that the current minimum wage of N30,000 is no longer sustainable with the present economic reality, agreeing a figure for the new minimum wage had for long proved difficult.
While the government and the organised private sector viewed labour’s proposed N494,000 as over the roof, labour felt the offer of N60,000 was not considerate.
Meanwhile, the governors have said that even the N60,000 minimum wage would be very difficult for them to pay.
At the expiration of an ultimatum issued by labour on May 31, the unions embarked on strike on June 3, shutting down businesses across the nation.
The action was however suspended on Tuesday after the Federal Government promised to increase the minimum wage to an amount bigger than N60,000 as they resumed negotiations.
The suspension of the strike gave room for the resumption of negotiations which continued until Friday (7-06-2024) night.
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