The ongoing negotiations between the Nigerian government and organised labour on the new minimum wage for workers have ended in a deadlock.
DAILY GIST recalls that President Bola Tinubu had in January set up a tripartite committee consisting of the government, labour and private sector representatives to review the N30,000 minimum wage introduced by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Following the development, the Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC submitted a proposal for an N615,000 minimum wage to the Tripartite Committee.
However, the federal government has not accepted labour’s demand.
Speaking with The Punch, a top official of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the negotiations ended in a stalemate because the two parties were unable to reach a consensus on the new minimum wage.
He said that while organised labour was insisting on a minimum wage of N615,000, the government and the private sector were proposing between N60,000 and N70,000, resulting in a stalemate in negotiations.
The source, who asserted that he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said, “The government can go as high as N60,000 to N70,000 a month. But anything outside of that, for the government, is impossible.”
Earlier, DAILY GIST reported that the federal government, said the new minimum wage will take off on May 1, 2024.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, the minister of state for labour, disclosed this in her address during the Workers’ Day celebration, at the Eagles Square, on Wednesday.
Onyejeocha who regretted that the new Minimum Wage was yet to take off, stated that workers will enjoy arrears from May 1, whenever it is signed into law.
