At the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on Tuesday, the memo on the proposed new minimum wage for Nigerian workers was stepped down, pending further consultations by President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, briefed State House Correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting
Idris said, “A lot of people have been asking me questions pertaining to whether the New Minimum Wage would come up for deliberations today at FEC, especially whether government was going to have a position on the new wage.
“Recall that there was a report from the tripartite committee, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, the Organised Private Sector and the government representatives, these three make up the tripartite committee that discussed on the new minimum wage. They have forwarded a report to the President which he has gone through.
“But consistent with the way it should be done, I want to inform Nigerians that FEC deliberated on that because the new national minimum wage is not just the decision of the Federal government.
“That memo was stepped down to enable Mr President consult further so that he can have an informed position on what to do. This decision was taken because it affects the States, LG and the Federal Government.”
The minister assured the public that the government is committed to improving workers’ welfare while considering the broader economic implications.
The Federal Government had offered N62,000 as the new national minimum wage at the end of the tripartite committee meeting involving the organised private sector.
But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in response to Tinubu’s Democracy Day speech, had insisted that its demand for the new National Minimum Wage remains N250,000.
“Our demand still remains N250,000 only and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.
“We are, therefore, surprised at the submission of Mr President over a supposed agreement.
“We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC.
“There was none and it is important that we let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage,” the Acting President of NLC, Adewale Adeyanju, had said in a statement
