Tinubu orders Edun to show minimum wage template by Wednesday
President Bola Tinubu has instructed Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to submit a proposal for a new minimum wage.
After a Federal Government delegation discussing the new minimum wage met with the President on Tuesday, Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, stated this in Abuja.
“In order to have some numbers prepared for talks with Labour, the President has instructed the Minister of Finance to complete the calculations and report back to him between today and tomorrow.
“Mr. President is adamant about following the committee’s recommendation. He is considering Nigerian welfare as well, he remarked.
Idris declared that pay increases and labour are not opposed by the government.
Idris; Edun; George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Labour Minister; Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President; and Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, make up the FG delegation.
Trade Unions Call Off Strike
Organised Labour called off its countrywide strike, which had begun at midnight on Monday, earlier on Tuesday. On Monday night, Akume declared that the President was determined to see the national minimum wage rise above ₦60,000.
“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 had said, adding that the Organised Labour, in deference to the high esteem of the President, agreed to call a meeting of its organs immediately to consider the commitment of the President.
Labour started an indefinite strike on Monday over its demand for a new minimum wage, which had an impact on businesses, airports, universities, hospitals, and the electricity supply.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), bemoaning the fact that not all governors are paying the current wage award, which expired in April 2024, five years after former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Minimum Wage Act of 2019, said the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 could 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 till May 31 to implement the new minimum wage. Over the government committee’s failure to agree on a new minimum wage and the reversal of the power tariff hike, the workers’ organs throughout the nation announced on May 31 that a nationwide strike would start on Monday, June 3, 2024.
Labour turned down three government proposals during the fruitless negotiations; the most recent one was N60,000. Subsequently, the TUC and the NLC withdrew from talks and demanded that the new minimum wage be ₦494,000.