FG, Governors’ Forum Differ On Proposed Minimum Wage Offer

The federal government of Nigeria has increased its offer for the new minimum wage from the earlier N60,000 to N62,000.

The organized labour, has however, shifted from its earlier demand of N494,000 to N250,000. This followed the several hours of meetings between the two parties on Friday.

This brings to an end the deliberations on the new minimum wage by the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government after several months.

The recommendations will be forwarded to President Bola Tinubu, who is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action.

With the work of the tripartite committee, which was constituted in January this year, coming to an end, the ball now shifts to the table of President Tinubu and subsequently that of the National Assembly.

Though labour, the organised private sector, and the federal government had agreed that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 was no longer sustainable with the present economic reality of the country, agreeing a figure for the new minimum wage had for long proved difficult.

While the government and the organised private sector viewed labour’s proposed ₦494,000 as over the roof, labour felt the offer of ₦60,000 was not considerate.

At the expiration of an ultimatum issued by labour on May 31, the unions embarked on a strike on June 3, shutting down businesses across the nation.

The action was, however, suspended on Tuesday after the Federal Government promised to increase the minimum wage to an amount greater than ₦60,000 as they resumed negotiations.

The suspension of the strike gave room for the resumption of negotiations, which continued until this night.

Meanwhile, the 36 state governors have said that the ₦60,000 minimum wage proposal by the federal government is not sustainable and cannot fly.

A statement by the Acting Director, Media Affairs and Public Relations, of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Mrs. Halima Ahmed, noted that if allowed to fly, many states will use all their monthly allocations from the federation account to pay workers’ salaries.

The governors appealed to members of the tripartite committee to agree on a minimum wage that would be fair and sustainable.