The contentious issue of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers may not be resolved soon as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Tuesday stepped down the memorandum on the report of the Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage for further consultation.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who disclosed this to newsmen after the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu, said this was done to allow the President consult wider on the issue
He stated that the Council took the decision based on the fact that the issue of the national minimum wage is not just for the consideration of the federal government, but involving other stakeholders like the state and federal governments, as well as the organised private sector.
According to him, President needs to interact with other wage paying entities to factor their contributions and circumstances into the executive bill on the matter that will be passed on to the National Assembly for passage into law.
His words: “I want to inform Nigerians here that the Federal Executive Council deliberated on that and the decision is that because the new national minimum wage is not just that of the federal government, it is an issue that involves the federal government, the state governments, local governments, and the organized private sector and of course, including the organized Labour.
“That memo was stepped down to enable Mr. President to consult further, especially with the state governors and the organized private sector, before he makes a presentation to the National Assembly, before an executive bill is presented to the National Assembly.
“So I want to state that on the new national minimum wage, Mr. President is going to consult further so that he can have an informed position because the new national minimum wage, like I said, is not just an issue of the federal government. It affects the state governments, it affects the local governments, it also affects the organized private sector, and that is why it is called national minimum wage. It’s not just an affair of the federal government.
“So, Mr. President has studied the report and he’s going to consult wider before a final submission is being made to the National Assembly”, Idris said.
The decision of the President to consult the relevant stakeholders is coming on the heels of the statement by the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, where he said that the organized labour had expected the President to reach out to the members of the Tripartite Committee to harmonize the figure.
Ajaero had hinged his position on the fact that there was a stalemate at the end of the Tripartite Committee meeting.
Recall that at the end of the Tripartite Committee meeting on new national minimum wage recently, the government team and the organized private sector offered N62,000 from the current N30,000 but the organized labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress demanded N250,000 living wage.
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
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