President Bola Tinubu may announce the new minimum wage on May 1 in commemoration of the International Labour Day and backdate its implementation to April.
According to The PUNCH, the National Minimum Wage Committee was working to ensure that all negotiations regarding the new rate were finalised before then with the expectation that the President would announce the new minimum wage in his Workers’ Day address.
A member of the committee, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said, “By next week, the minimum wage committee will meet again. It’s a continuous meeting. That is a meeting where all the reports from the zonal public hearings will be collated and reported, and then, you know, that will also give the committee the direction to work with.
“Our target is to ensure that Mr President announces the minimum wage by the 1st of May, which is the Workers’ Day, for it to take effect from April. So, we are working to meet the timeline.”
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Indications have emerged that President Bola Tinubu may announce the new minimum wage on May 1 in commemoration of the International Labour Day and backdate its implementation to April.
The source stated, “We have not got to the negotiation point yet. When you finish with the zones, it is the aggregate of what you collect from the zones that will determine the direction of the main committee. Now that we have finished with the zones, when the committee meets, it will collate all the positions of the zones and committee members.
“The positions of the NLC, TUC, NECA (the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association) and the government will be looked at. Then, we will look at the aggregate, find a percentage, and arrive at what will be agreeable.
“We are going to make some adjustments. I am sure the committee will also have a private meeting with Mr President; they will look at the ability to pay, and then with the state governors. NECA will also be involved and we will see how we marry those angles. It is not a one-stop affair.”
When contacted, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, did not take his calls and he had yet to respond to text and WhatsApp messages sent to his mobile line as of the time of filing this report.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said he was not so conversant with the internal deliberations of the committee, but affirmed that talks were ongoing among the committee members who, he noted, were cognizant of the urgency of their assignment
Before now, the labour unions had said the existing national minimum wage of N30,000 was no longer realistic, citing the steep inflation rate of 31.7 per cent in February from 29.9 per cent reported by the National Bureau of Statistics in January.
In January, the Federal Government inaugurated the tripartite committee responsible for deliberating on the national minimum wage.
Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the 37-member panel at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
