*Pix above{l…r}: Organised Labour and PBAT
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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has, again, refuted claims by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that an agreement on a new minimum wage has been reached.
During his Democracy Day broadcast on Wednesday, President Tinubu had announced that a consensus had been reached between the federal government and organised labour on a new national minimum wage.
He stated that an executive bill would soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the agreement, emphasising his administration’s preference for a democratic approach over dictatorship in dealing with labour unions.
However, the Acting President of the NLC, Adewale Adeyanju, in a statement during the week, insisted that no agreement was reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage as of the conclusion of negotiations on Friday, 7 June.
“Our demand remains N250,000, and we have not been presented with any compelling reasons to alter this position, which we consider a significant concession by Nigerian workers during the negotiation process,” Mr Adeyanju stated.
He said there is a need to inform President Tinubu, Nigerians, and other concerned parties that there appears to be a misunderstanding about the negotiation’s outcome.
According to him, those who briefed the president did not provide an accurate account of the negotiation’s conclusion.
Mr Adeyanju said it would be difficult to accept a minimum wage that equates to starvation.
“It will be extremely difficult for Nigerian workers to accept any national minimum wage that equates to a starvation wage. We cannot continue to work and yet live in abject poverty,” he said.
He said labour acknowledged the president’s commitment to democratic principles, which allowed the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Negotiation Committee to work without interference despite some challenges.
However, he said labour had hoped President Tinubu would harmonise the two figures submitted by the Tripartite Committee in favour of the workers, which would have been an appropriate Democracy Day gesture.
Contrary to President Tinubu’s assertion, Mr Adeyanju said the NLC maintained that no agreement was reached with the federal government or employers on the base figure for a minimum wage or its other components.
The NLC expressed surprise at the president’s claim of an agreement, suggesting he might have been misled.
The NLC also raised concerns about intimidation and harassment from government operatives during the negotiation process, saying that fully armed soldiers surrounded them during negotiations and that recent statements from senior government officials have reaffirmed their fears.
…As NCCC tackles NLC, TUC over high minimum wage demand
Meanwhile, the North-Central Citizens Council (NCCC) has condemned in strong terms what it called reckless agitation of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its counterpart Trade Union Congress (TUC) for an increase in the minimum wage of Nigerian workers.
The NCCC in a statement by its coordinator, Comrade Mohammed Eneji, termed the efforts by the labour unions in forcing the federal government to succumb to their terms in the negotiation process as inhuman and selfish as this will have an adverse effect on the common man who doesn’t earn salary or wage.
It said if these negotiations for increase in the minimum wage of workers was jacked up without considering the adverse effect it will have on the ordinary citizens of the country, especially those living in the rural areas, then the efforts will be counterproductive and useless.
It noted that many state governors were even still battling to pay the N30,000 minimum wage as it is till date, wondering “how then do we think that the Governments both at State and Local Government levels will be able to pay the minimum wage of 60,000 and above?”
It said the labour movement was obviously not putting Nigeria and Nigerians first in this process of the negotiation and as such, NCCC was demanding that the labour review and consider the plight of the larger percentage of Nigerians who are not on the payroll of the government nor the private sector, as this percentage of Nigerians constitute the largest population of workforce in Nigeria compared to those working for government who are less than 1% of the entire Nigerian population.
“We also demand that the Labour be flexible by looking at the bigger picture as this demand of theirs will further heighten the inflation rate in the country and also increase the unemployment rate , for as a result of the increase in the minimum wage, many multinationals and government agencies at state level may result into downsizing the personnel on their payroll due to inability to pay the new wage./PLEASE NSHARE
