President Bola Tinubu will meet with the Organised Labour in Abuja on Thursday to further discussions on a new minimum wage for workers in Nigeria.
A top labour source told Channels Television that the President invited the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to the meeting expected to be held at the Aso Villa in the nation’s capital city.
The President is expected to decide on the ₦62,000 proposal of the government and private sector side and the ₦250,000 demand of the Organised Labour.
The Thursday meeting is coming about a month after the President said in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, that an executive bill on the new wage for workers would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
On June 25, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by the President stepped down from consideration and deliberation on the memo on the new wage to allow for more engagement with stakeholders.
Two days after, Tinubu and Vice President Kassim Shettima, at the 141st meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), met with governors of the 36 states of the Federation and ministers to deliberate on a new minimum wage for workers.
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Talks for a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers have been on for a while. The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which made ₦30,000 the minimum wage, expired in April 2024. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet with contemporary economic demands of workers.
President Bola Tinubu in January set up a Tripartite Committee to negotiate a new minimum wage for workers. The committee comprises the Organised Labour, representatives of federal and state governments as well as the Organised Private Sector.
However, the committee members failed to reach an agreement on a new realistic wage for workers, forcing labour to declare an indefinite industrial action on Monday, June 3, 2024. Businesses were paralysed as labour shut down airports, hospitals, the national grid, banks, National Assembly, and state assemblies’ complexes.
