The Tripartite Committee on the new minimum wage will meet again today Friday, May 31, 2024, after the Nigerian Government extended an invitation to the Organised Labour.
Committee Secretary Ekpo Nta signed the invitation, which was sent to the Presidents of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
This will be the seventh session in the series, aiming to reach an agreement on a new minimum wage for workers in the country.
The last meeting on Tuesday ended without resolution, as Organised Labour rejected the Government’s offer of ₦60,000.
Labour representatives have revised their demands downward from ₦615,000 to ₦494,000. Earlier, the government and the Organised Private Sector had proposed ₦48,000 and ₦54,000, respectively, which were also turned down by Labour.
TUC leader Festus Osifo said the Government’s ₦60,000 proposal does not align with the nation’s economic conditions, citing the 33.69% inflation rate as of April 2024.
He urged the government to present a more realistic proposal that can sustain a family.
“So, for us, we completely reject it. We want the government to be serious. Let them come and give us a breakdown of how a family is going to live with the minimum wage of ₦60,000,” he maintained.
Labour unions have set an ultimatum for 31 May and stressed that the current ₦30,000 minimum wage is inadequate, which many governors are yet to pay. The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, signed by former President Buhari, requires a review every five years, which lapsed in April 2024.
NLC President Joe Ajaero criticised the government’s new proposals as insufficient to support a family, pointing out the economic divide between the working class and the wealthy.
“The economy of the workers is destroyed. The workers don’t have any economy. I think there are two economies in the country; the economy of the bourgeoisie and the economy of the workers. I think we have to harmonise this so that we can have a meeting point,” he said.
