By Saidu Idris
365Daily – Again, the Federal Government (FG) and Organised Labour on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on a new minimum wage.
Representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, walked out of the Tripartite Committee meeting on Minimum Wage after the FG increased its offer to N60,000.
The N60,000 is N3,000 more that the FG’s former offer, while the Labour reduced its demand by the same figure.
As at the time the organised labour walked out, the federal government offer was N60,000, while labour reduced its demand to N494,000.
With its membership cutting across federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel was tasked with recommending a new national minimum wage.
At the inaugural meeting of the panel, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented the president, urged members to ‘speedily’ arrive at a resolution, and submit their reports early as the current N30,000 minimum wage expired at the end of March 2024.
Chairing the panel is a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Bukar Aji, who, at the inauguration ceremony, affirmed that its members would come up with a ‘fair, practical, implementable and sustainable’ minimum wage.