Fed. Govt. Offers Labour N62,000 As New Minimum Wage

The Federal Government said it has offered Organised Labour N62, 000 as the new national minimum wage for workers in the country.

Imo state Governor, Hope Uzodimma made this known while addressing journalists at at end of the Tripartite Committee negotiation meeting on Friday in Abuja.

Uzodimma who spoke on behalf of the governors, said there was progress in the negotiation of the new minimum wage.

Labour Rejects Fg’s Fresh N60,000 Minimum Wage Offer, Insists On N494,000

“We are almost there because are just about to sign the dot and there will be a complete closure. Every other thing will follow.”

“The committee has worked so hard, and the committee has reached an agreement. The tripartite committee is made up of three parties -the government, the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and the organised labour.

“In the wisdom of the committee, it has put together a recommendation that will be forwarded to Mr President for further action.

“The organised private sector and the Federal Government have agreed on N62, 000 while the organised labour is asking for N250, 000.

“At the end of the day what is important is that we are talking. There is no hostility anymore. And the national anxiety is going to be relaxed as soon as this is made public,” he added.

Speaking, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, Goni Aji said the recommendation that they had was as a result of a deep dialogue and consensus reached at the Tripartite level.

According to him, the situation that “we are recommending to Mr President, somehow, is repeating itself because it happened in the 2018 exercise.

“In 2018, it was the other way. The organised private sector and the organised labour recommended N30, 000 as minimum wage while the government side recommended N24, 000.

“Two figures were recommended to the then President for his consideration and onward transmission to the National Assembly for it to become a law. That is exactly where we are,” he said.

He added that the mandate of the tripartite committee is to recommend and “has no powers to approve but to recommend.”

Aji said that the recommendation reached came as a result of deeper understanding and studies of all the economic indices and current inflation, state of the economy.

“At the end of the day what is important is that we are still talking,” he noted.

This comes after the organized labour dropped its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.