SGF Says Tinubu Promised To Pay More Than ₦60,000, Labour To Meet With Organs
President Bola Tinubu is committed to a national minimum salary exceeding ₦60,000, the Federal Government declares, as the statewide strike by organised labour over a new minimum pay for workers paralyses economic activities in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, following a protracted meeting with labour leaders in Abuja late on Monday.
The president is, he stated, “committed to a national minimum wage that is higher than N60,000.”
“The tripartite committee is to meet every day for the next one week with a view to arriving at an agreeable national minimum wage,” Akume said, adding that the organised labour, in deference to the high esteem of the President, agreed to call an urgent meeting of its organs to consider the commitment of the President.
Attending the conference are Festus Osifo, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart of Joe Ajaero, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Among those representing the government were Akume, Mohammed Idris Malagi, the Minister of Information, and Nkiruka Onyejeocha, the Labour Minister.
When Labour started an indefinite strike on Monday in protest of their demand for a higher minimum wage, businesses, airports, universities, hospitals, and the electricity supply were all impacted.
The NLC and TUC bemoaned that not all governors are paying the current wage award, which expires in April 2024, five years after former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Minimum Wage Act of 2019, claiming that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer support the well-being of an average Nigerian worker.
Reviewing the Act every five years would help it to keep up with the modern economic needs of workers.
Later, Labour gave the Federal Government a deadline of May 31 to implement the new minimum wage. Over the government committee’s failure to agree on a new minimum wage and a reversal of the power tariff hike, the workers’ groups throughout the nation announced on May 31 a statewide strike starting on Monday, June 3, 2024.