FG, Labour Bicker Over N62,000 Proposed Minimum Wage
New figures from the national minimum wage tripartite committee have emerged as the Federal government and organised private sector made a new offer of N62,000, while organised labour came down to N250,000 from its previous figure of N497,000.
Hope Uzodinma, the Imo Governor who spoke on behalf of the Nigerian governors announced this after a long negotiation meeting of the committee in Abuja Saturday evening.
Addressing newsmen, Uzodinma said: “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 reached an agreement. The tripartite committee is made up of three parties – the government, the Organised Private Sector, and 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. That is the beauty of the conversation and I am very happy we have been able to manage this temptation that has befallen our nation so that government can face their business and Nigerians will also go about their businesses without any further embarrassment.
On his part, TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo said: “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.
“We are going to sign a report and forward this position to Mr President. This committee is to make a recommendation to Mr President 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.
The Chairman of the tripartite committee, Goni Aji, in his comment, said; “The recommendation that we have just had is as a result of a very deep dialogue and consensus reached at the Tripartite level. The situation that we are recommending to Mr President, somehow, 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.
“The mandate of the tripartite committee is to recommend. It has no powers to approve but to recommend and the recommendation today came as a result of deeper understanding and studies of all the economic indices and current inflation, state of the economy, affordability, ability, capability, and sustainability that had been displayed so that a figure that will further throw the country into confusion is not announced this is because if any party goes into an agreement of the figures it knows from its sources it cannot afford then it is going to create another problem.
“But I thank God that all wisdom came together and that the recommendation to Mr President is going along the direction that you have just heard from the Governor of Imo State who played a very critical role in mediating this process with his colleague the governor of Kwara.”
