Minimum wage: Tripartite committee delays as labour demands increase from N56, 000
The acting Nigerian Labour Congress President, Kiri Mohammed, has disclosed that a fresh wage, higher than the initial N56, 000 being demanded, has been submitted to the tripartite committee on minimum wage.
According to the labour leader, the exact figure will be communicated by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, but noted that the increase is due to inflation and other economic realities in the country.
Mohammed, disclosed this at the 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Civil Service Union on Thursday in Abuja.
“NLC has decided to look at the figure and modify it, we actually modified it, an upward review above N56, 000, but I am not going to tell you how much because the president (Ayuba Wabba) is supposed to say it.
“We have submitted it to the secretariat of the tripartite committee. The review is in conjunction with the TUC. You can’t do it alone, all of us met and decided to put heads together and look at the realities on the ground.”
He dispelled any notion given by some persons that the minimum wage, after the review, will not be paid in 2018, due to the fact that it was not captured in the 2018 budget.
The NLC chief expressed confidence that the minimum wage bill would be passed by the National Assembly and implemented by the Federal Government, owing to the commitments of President Muhammadu Buhari on the outcomes of the ongoing negotiations for new wages for workers.
“Who made the budget? I believe if they (government) are serious, we can finish this matter towards the middle of this year, June, July.
“If we can finish at that time, then before the end of the year, certainly, the President must send whatever we agreed to the National Assembly for them to look at it and for him to assent it as a law, but I know that once we agreed, government would implement whatever is agreed.”
The acting NLC President, however, complained about the slow pace of negotiations by the tripartite committee, noting that it had not held any meeting since it was inaugurated.
“We had an inaugural meeting and they have not called for a meeting, I won’t call it a deliberate delay, but it looks as if there is a deliberate delay. We have not started discussion or anything,” Mohammed said.
