After almost six months of negotiations, the Federal Government, Labour and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) yesterday settled for N70,000 as the new national minimum wage.
The new pay, which will go into effect after passage by the National Assembly and assent by the President, will replace the subsisting N30,000 minimum wage, which came into effect in 2019.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he signed off on the figure because no one in a federal establishment should earn anything less.
He spoke during a meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) leaders at the State House, Abuja.
President Tinubu said he intervened in the negotiations knowing the economic challenges faced by Nigerians, and the need to provide urgent succour.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, flanked by Comrade Festus Usifo, TUC President and other representatives of Nigerian workers who attended the meeting with the president said the unions agreed to the offer because of other incentives attached.
He noted that another reason for accepting the offer is because the President promised a review every three years as against what obtained in the past.
Initially, Organised Labour had demanded N615,000 as the new wage. But following prolonged discussion with the tripartite committee set up by the federal government and strike, the Labour leaders moved from N615,000 to N250,000 before finally settling for N70,000.
The tripartite committee had submitted its recommendation of N250,000 by Labour and N62,000 by the government side to President Tinubu, who had promised to make wilder consultation before sending a bill to that effect to the National Assembly.
Last week, the labour leaders met with President Tinubu but we’re unable to come to a compromise, before the meeting was reschedule for Thursday. On their part, the Federal Government had initially proposed 48,000 before moving to N70,000 with the labour leaders.
Also addressing journalists after the meeting with President Tinubu, Ajaero said: “What have been announced in terms of the amount of N70,000 happened to be where we are now. But the thing about it is that we will not wait for another five years to come on review. Rather than settling on a figure that we wait for five years, is like we’ll have to now negotiate even two times within five years, with a view to going up.
“That is one of the reasons we decided to reach where we are today. Because of the proviso that you know, you can review the next three years. The other one, we came with other issues in the basket, like the issue of SSANU, NASU and others, especially with the affront by the Commissioner of Police FCT, we brought it to Mr. President, for that matter to be addressed. And magnanimously he asked the agencies concerned to work out the modalities for the payment of those workers in the universities.”
He also said government promised other incentives which will lessen the burden that the Nigerian workers are passing through, “but you can see that we are taking in this well with mix filling because of the situation of the economy. But we have to move ahead despite the situation, and the negotiation can’t linger, you know, coming from N62,000 to N70,000. And then with the proviso that we are coming back soon to negotiate it.”
Ajearo also said, “We’re taking it back to our constituency to see how we can get a buy in,” adding that normally their Constituency always agrees with them.”
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