The President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Festus Osifo, has said that the much-awaited new minimum wage may not be announced on 1 May.
Mr Osifo said this while speaking with journalists on Friday in Abuja.
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”The negotiation by the Tripartite Committee is still ongoing. If you remember, the TUC earlier submitted N447,000 as the new minimum wage but we have harmonised our figure with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
“It is now N615,000. Regarding the when for the new minimum wage, the committee is still working.
“So, certainly, May 1, will not work for the pronouncement of the new minimum wage. Except if the federal government wants to pay the minimum wage of N500,000 to workers,” he said.
He, however, said that the N615,000 demanded by the labour unions is not sacrosanct.
”The government also has its markup and so conversations and negotiations will start and end somewhere,” he said.
He also noted that before the labour unions arrived at that amount, a proper study was conducted.
”If you look at the N615,000, you will think that the amount is right but at about the time we did that computation, a dollar was about N1,700.
”I am hopeful that the committee will meet after May 1,” he said.
NAN reports that the 37-member tripartite committee on minimum wage was set up by the federal government to continue further negotiations and consultations on the new minimum wage.
The National Minimum Wage Committee is chaired by former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Bukar Aji, with other members drawn from the federal government and state governments, the private sector and organised labour.
Vice President Kashim Shettima who inaugurated the committee noted that though decisions made to salvage the economy remain inevitable, the federal government is not oblivious of the short-term implications, assuring Nigerians of better days ahead
He urged the committee to be diligent and consult widely in arriving at a fair and decent wage that can alleviate the sufferings of the people.
(NAN)