FG offers Labour N62,000 new minimum wage

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

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma said this while addressing journalists at the end of the tripartite committee’s meeting in Abuja on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Uzodimma stated that there was progress in the negotiation of the new minimum wage.

The governor said: “We are almost there because we are just about to sign the document 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.

Governors: We can’t pay workers N60,000 minimum wage

“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.”

Also speaking, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, noted that the OPS and federal government have recommended N62,000 as the minimum wage.

Osifo said: “But for us, we felt that with the current economic hardship and the difficulty in the land, the sum of N250,000 should be what will be okay for the minimum wage.

“We are going to sign a report and forward this position to Mr President. This committee is to make recommendations to him.

“So we will forward it to him and Mr President will forward it to the National Assembly.

“We will keep pushing to ensure that we have a wage that stands the test of time in Nigeria.”

On his part, the 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.

Aji said: “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.”

The Star