The Federal Government (FG) has offered Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) N62,000 as the new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The organised private sector has also agreed on N62,000.
But the organised labour is asking for N250,000.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja at the end of the Tripartite Committee minimum wage negotiation meeting on Friday.
Uzodima who is also the Chairman of the Governors Forum and spoke on behalf of governors, however, said that discussion on the conclusion of the negotiation was still in progress.
He said: “We are almost there because we are just about to sign the dot and there will be a complete closure. Every other thing will follow.”
“The committee has worked so hard and has reached an agreement. The tripartite committee is made up of three parties -the government, the Organised Private Sector(OPS) and the organised labour.”
“In the wisdom of the committee, it has put together a recommendation that will be forwarded to Mr President for further action,” Uzodima added.
“The organised private sector and the Federal Government have agreed on N62,000, while the organised labour is asking for N250,000.
“What is important is that we are talking. There is no hostility anymore and the national anxiety is going to be relaxed as soon as this is made public,” he said.
Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, Mr Goni Aji, said the recommendation they had was as a result of a deep dialogue and consensus reached at the Tripartite level.
He said: “The situation that we are recommending to Mr President, somehow, is repeating itself because it happened in the 2018 exercise.”
“In 2018, it was the other way. The organised private sector and the organised labour recommended N30,000 as minimum wage while the government side recommended N24,000.
“Two figures were recommended to the then President for his consideration and onward transmission to the National Assembly for it to become a law. That is exactly where we are,” Goni said.
The President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo,
said that the OPS and Federal Government had recommended N62,000 as the minimum wage but noted: “But for us, we felt that with the current economic hardship and the difficulty in the land, the sum of N250,000 should be what will be okay for the minimum wage.”
“We are going to sign a report and forward this position to Mr President. This committee is to make recommendations to him.
”So, we will forward it to him and Mr President will forward it to the National Assembly.
“We will keep pushing to ensure that we have a wage that stands the test of time in Nigeria,” he said.
