By Adedapo Adesanya
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr George Akume, has announced that President Bola Tinubu was committed to a national minimum wage above N60,000.
He said this after a resolution was reached with labour union leaders on Monday night in Abuja after a nationwide strike started yesterday paralysed economic activities in Nigeria.
The former Governor of Benue State further disclosed that, “The tripartite committee is to meet every day for the next one week with a view to arriving at an agreeable national minimum wage,” adding that the labour unions, in deference to the high esteem of the President, agreed to convene a meeting of its organs immediately to consider the offer.
The parties also resolved that the federal government would not victimise any worker for partaking in the strike.
The meeting has the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Joe Ajaero; and his counterpart in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Festus Osifo, in attendance.
On the government’s side were Mr Akume; the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris Malagi; and the Labour Minister, Mrs Nkiruka Onyejeocha, among others.
Business Post had earlier reported that businesses, airports, universities, hospitals, and power supply were affected as Labour began the strike on Monday over labour’s demand for a new minimum wage.
NLC and TUC said the current minimum wage of N30,000 could no longer cater to the well-being of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors were paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet the contemporary economic demands of workers.
On May 31, the workers’ organs in the country declared a nationwide strike beginning on Monday, June 3, 2024, over the government committee’s inability to agree on a new minimum wage and reversal of the electricity tariff hike.
During the failed talks with the government, labour rejected three government offers, the latest being N60,000. The TUC and the NLC subsequently pulled out of negotiations, insisting on N494,000 as the new minimum wage.