Organised labour will meet President Bola Tinubu again in seven days to continue discussions on the minimum wage for workers.
Speaking with State House correspondents in Abuja on
Thursday, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, minister of state for labour, expressed
confidence that the minimum wage issue would soon be resolved.
The minister spoke shortly after President Bola Tinubu met
with the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress
(TUC).
“It is a fruitful meeting, father and children. I think we
are hopeful that very soon everything will be resolved,” she said.
“Of course, when father and children talk, you know what it
is. That’s just exactly what has happened. It took us almost about an hour. I
believe that it’s all for good.”
On his part, Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said the meeting was
not a negotiation but a discussion with the president.
“In a real sense, it wasn’t a negotiation but a discussion,
and we have had that discussion,” Ajaero said.
“We agreed to look at the real terms probably and reconvene
in the next one week.
“So that’s where we are. We didn’t go down there to talk
naira and kobo. At least there were some basic issues that we agreed on.
“We didn’t go into naira and kobo discussions. Now the
status quo in terms of the amount N250,000 and N62,000 remains until we finish
this conversation.”
Festus Osifo, TUC president, said the meeting looked at the
issues “bothering and biting Nigerians today”.
On June 3, the NLC and TUC embarked on a nationwide
indefinite strike over the failure of the federal government to agree to their
demand for the minimum wage.
The labour bodies proposed N494,000 as the new minimum wage,
citing inflation and the prevailing economic hardship in the country while
rejecting the federal government’s N60,000 offer.
On June 7, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) said a N60,000
minimum wage would prove unsustainable.
At the last meeting of the tripartite committee set up to
negotiate the minimum wage, labour rejected the N62,000 proposed by the
government and lowered its demand to N250,000.
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