The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have called an emergency meeting in response to the Federal Executive Council’s decision to defer the memo on the new minimum wage.
The meeting, which will take place at Labour House in Abuja at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, was confirmed by a senior official at the NLC headquarters.
The main agenda for this gathering is to deliberate on the next steps following the Federal Executive Council’s postponement of discussions on the Tripartite Committee’s report on the new national minimum wage. This development was previously reported by Punch Metro.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, revealed the deferral after the council’s meeting in Abuja.
He explained that the memo was held back to allow President Bola Tinubu to conduct further consultations. Idris emphasized that the federal government is not the only stakeholder in determining the minimum wage, noting that state governments, local government areas, labour unions, and the organised private sector also play significant roles.
“Although we already have a position, we will meet tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to refine our stance before we are consulted. This is important for us,” the NLC official stated.
During the last meeting of the tripartite committee, an agreement was reached where the federal government and the Organised Private Sector consented to pay N62,000, while labour revised its demand to N250,000.
On June 12, during the Democracy Day celebrations, President Tinubu committed to sending a National Minimum Wage Bill to the National Assembly for passage. He hinted that the proposed minimum wage might be reviewed within the next five years.
“We have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less,” President Tinubu declared in his nationwide broadcast.
However, the labour unions asserted that no consensus had been reached by the tripartite committee on the minimum wage amount.
