No agreement on N30,000 minimum wage - FG
The Federal Government yesterday said agreement has not been reached on the proposed N30,000 new National Minimum Wage.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige made the position of the Federal Government known at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday.
“This information becomes very pertinent because I saw all your papers, the dailies yesterday (Tuesday) awash with the news that we have all agreed on N30,000, that is not true, the federal government has not agreed on N30,000,” he said.
Ngige said the Federal Government has not shifted ground on its N24,000 proposal, saying the issue of National minimum wage is a law that is binding on all.
He said the state government, the private sector and the organized labour proposed N20,000, N25,000 and N30,000 as national minimum wage respectively.
“Even though we adjourned our meeting and said we will put up a report that will reflect this position, we are still continuing to discuss informally to see if we can arrive at a common figure,” he said.
Ngige said the federal government was carrying state government along to come up with an acceptable and implementable national minimum wage. The organized labour yesterday debunked the statement credited to Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige that no amount has been agreed on by the minimum wage tripartite committee as recommendation to the government.
This was contained in a statement signed on behalf of the organized labour members of the tripartite committee by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba, Trade Union Congress (TUC) Bala Bobboi Kaigama and United Labour Congress (ULC) Joe Ajaero.
Labour insisted that the tripartite committee on national minimum wage has concluded its work, saying the minister’s claim that government was still negotiating with labour was untrue.
The committee formally adjourned its sitting with a decision that a date will be communicated to members for the signing of the report and submission of same to Mr. President.”
The Organized labour, therefore, called on the government to take immediate necessary steps to ensure the enactment of a new national minimum wage, saying it cannot guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the absence of it.