Minimum wage: Labour rules out strike on Tuesday, await Tinubu’s approval.

The planned strike action to seek a new national minimum wage for Tuesday is being called off by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC, said this on Monday during the current International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ajaero, who told the Guardian that the data submitted by the Tritiparte committee on the minimum wage are with President Bola Tinubu, said organised labour cannot go on strike tomorrow.

He made it clear that labour had suggested a submission of N62,000 in addition to the government and the organised employers’ group.
Labour accepting N62,000 as the new minimum wage does not equate to N250,000.

The tripartite committee gave the President two figures, he said. The labour department put out a different figure than the government and employers, who offered N62,000 instead.
suggested N25,000.A decision by the president is awaited. NEC will confer on the issue.
updated total when it becomes available.

“The figures are with the president, therefore we are unable to declare a strike at this time. We shall hold off till the President makes his decision.

The immediate former president turned down a tripartite committee proposal of N27,000 during his term.
To N30,000, it was raised. We believe that this President will act morally. There is a big gap between N62,000 and N250,000, the President had pointed out.

The NLC president further criticised state governors who are members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum for turning down the N62,000 minimum salary proposal.

How, he questioned, could any governor claim he could not pay? They cannot be urging the minimum wage to be decentralised at the same time.

Do salaries vary around the company? The same amount is collected by governors whose states are producing billions of dollars into the FAAC as governors whose states are not contributing a dime to the national budget and who produce pitiful Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Their pay and benefits should be distributed first.

Where then does Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki obtain his money? For minimum wage, he is paying N70,000. Not the slothful governors, but this kind of one should be emulated.