No new minimum wage offer presented to us yet, says Organised Labour as negotiation resumes

The Organised Labour in Nigeria has said there Federal Government was yet to present it with a minimum wage offer, although its leaders and other members of the tripartite committee, comprising the Federal Government and labour unions, have resumed talks on the matter.

The committee reconvened at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja on Wednesday.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Festus Osifo, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said the federal government did not present a new minimum wage offer during the talks.

“Nothing has been presented yet. The minister of finance said they are still working on the template that the president mandated them to work on,” he said.

“All we were discussing were the principles behind some of these issues, but they have not presented anything beyond what was presented earlier.

“We hope when we come back tomorrow, we will have something to relate to.”

The federal government was represented at the meeting by Wale Edun, minister of finance; Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and national planning; and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, minister of labour.

Representatives of the secretary to the government of the federation and the head of service of the federation were also present.

For the organised labour, Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Osifo were in attendance.

Abdulateef Shittu, director-general of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), was also present.

On Monday, the NLC and TUC embarked on an indefinite strike over the federal government’s failure to meet their demand for a new minimum wage.

The organised labour had proposed N615,500 and N494,000 as the new national minimum wage, which the government said was unrealistic.

On Tuesday, the organised labour relaxed the industrial action for one week to allow negotiations with the federal government on a new minimum wage.