*Pix above(r-l): Organised Labour and PBAT
PLEASE
SHARE
Nigerian organized labour, consisting of the
Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, has demanded N615,000 as the
new minimum wage for workers in the country, reports reaching The
State Online has confirmed.
**Advertisement**
An impeccable source, who is an executive of
organised labour, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the new wage of
N615,000 monthly was reached after consultations by the NLC and TUC.
The source, who was a member of one of the
sub-committees set up by the government to work on getting a new minimum wage
for the country, however, said the wage might still increase, following the
recent hike in electricity tariff.
Speaking with our correspondent within the
week, the source said, “We (NLC and TUC) have given our figures to the
government (on the minimum wage), and it is N615,000. That is the position of
the NLC and TUC on the matter. The government has been informed as well.”
President Bola Tinubu, through Vice President
Kashim Shettima, had on January 30, set up a 37-member panel at the Council
Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
With its membership cutting across federal and
state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel was
tasked with recommending a new national minimum wage.
At the inaugural meeting of the panel,
Shettima urged members to ‘speedily’ arrive at a resolution, and submit their
reports early as the current N30,000 minimum wage expired at the end of March
2024.
Chairing the panel is a former Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Bukar Aji, who, at the inauguration ceremony, affirmed that its
members would come up with a ‘fair, practical, implementable and sustainable’
minimum wage.
The inauguration followed months of agitation from organised
labour over the FG’s failure to inaugurate the new national minimum wage
committee as promised during negotiations last October.
From the government’s side, members include the Minister of
State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, representing the Minister
of Labour and Employment; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the
Economy, Wale Edun, who was represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary,
Lydia Jafiya; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Head
of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Yemi Esan; and Permanent Secretary,
GSO/OSGF, Dr Nnamdi Mbaeri, among others.
Representing the Nigeria Governors Forum are Mohammed Bago of
Niger State, representing the North Central; Senator Bala Mohammed of Bauchi
State, representing the North East; Umar Radda of Katsina State, representing
the North West; Charles Soludo of Anambra State, representing the South East;
Senator Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, for the South West; and Otu Bassey of
Cross River State, on behalf of the South-South.
From the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association is the
Director-General of the association, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde; Chuma Nwankwo,
Thompson Akpabio; as well as members from the Nigeria Association of Chambers
of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, including Michael Olawale-Cole,
Ahmed Rabiu, and Humphrey Ngonadi.
From organised labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress is
represented by its president, Joe Ajaero; as well as President of the TUC,
Festus Osifo; and his deputy, Tommy Etim-Okon, among others.
Earlier before then, Ajaero had announced N1m as the new minimum
wage, owing to the rising inflation in the country which, according to him, had
pushed many of his members into poverty.(agency)/PLEASE SHARE
