Democracy Day: Still No Deal With FG Over Minimum Wage -Labour

Despite assurances by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his Democracy Day Speech on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 that an agreement had been reached on the new national minimum wage, the organised labour has insisted that there is no deal in place even as the one week “relaxation” of labour’s industrial action has elapsed since Monday June 10, 2024.

It appeared all was set for Organised Labour to call off their indefinite strike when President Bola Tinubu claimed in his address yesterday that his administration would soon submit an executive bill to the National Assembly to codify the agreements reached in the minimum wage negotiations between Labour, the private sector, the states and the Federal Government. But labour through its Acting President, Prince Adewale Adeyanju dismissed the President’s claim stating that the unions rejected the N62,000 offer from the Federal Government and Organized Private Sector. 

But reacting to President Tinubu’s address through a statement obtained by Warri Sentinel, Adeyanju, acting on behalf of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Joe Ajaero who is away on labour assignment in Switzerland, said the unions settled for N250,000. 

He said,  “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the Federal Government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components.

“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.”