FG offers Labour N62,000 as new national minimum wage

Labour unions

Published By: Kazeem Ugbodaga

The Federal Government said it has offered organised labour N62, 000 as the new national minimum wage for workers in the country.

Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo state said this while addressing journalists at at end Tripartite Committee negotiation meeting on Friday in Abuja.

Uzodimma who is also the Chairman of the Governors Forum, spoke on behalf of the governors that there was progress in the negotiation of the new minimum wage.

According to him, “we are almost there because are just about to sign the dot and there will be a complete closure. Every other thing will follow.”

“The committee has worked so hard and the committee has reach an agreement. The tripartite committee is made up of three parties -the government, the Organised Private Sector(OPS) and the organised labour.

“In the wisdom of the committee, it has put together a recommendation that will be forwarded to Mr President for further action.

“The organised private sector and the Federal Government have agreed on N62, 000 while the organised labour is asking for N250, 000.

“At the end of the day what is important is that we are talking. There is no hostility anymore. And the national anxiety is going to be relaxed as soon as this is made public,” he said.

Also, Festus Osifo, President, Trade Union Congress (TUC) noted that the OPS and Federal Government have recommended N62, 000 as the minimum wage.

“But for us we felt that with the current economic hardship and the difficulty in the land the sum of N250, 000 should be what will be okay for the minimum wage.

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“We are going to sign a report and forward this position to Mr President. This committee is to make recommendation to him.

“So we will forward it to him and Mr President will forward it to the National Assembly. We will keep pushing to ensure that we have a wage that stands the test of time in Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking, Mr Goni Aji, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, said the recommendation that they had was as a result of a deep dialogue and consensus reached at the Tripartite level.

According yo him, the situation that “we are recommending to Mr President, some how, is repeating itself because it happened in the 2018 exercise.

“In 2018, it was the other way. The organised private sector and the organised labour recommended N30, 000 as minimum wage while the government side recommended N24, 000.

“Two figures were recommended to the then President for his consideration and onward transmission to the National Assembly for it to become a law. That is exactly where we are,” he said.

He added that the mandate of the tripartite committee is to recommend and “has no powers to approve but to recommend.”

Aji said that the recommendation reached came as a result of deeper understanding and studies of all the economic indices and current inflation, state of the economy.

He noted that the organised private sector and the government have aggressive on a figure which N62,000 while the organised law is asking for N250.000.

“At the end of the day what is important is that we are still talking,” he said.