President Bola Tinubu has approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting Mr Tinubu held with labour leaders in his office at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo, who also spoke at the briefing, confirmed that the leadership of the two unions are positively inclined towards the new wage, but that they will call a meeting of their National Executive Committees and table it.
The government had earlier proposed N60,000 and then raised it to N62,000, while Labour demanded N494,000 and later reviewed it downwards to N250,000.
“Today is a happy day for Nigeria. You recall that last week we had a meeting here and the organised, private sector and the sub-nationals have also held their various meetings with Mr. President following the submission of the tripartite agreement to Mr President.
“Labour came last week. They had a meeting with Mr. President. They asked for an adjournment for a week to go and consult further. They did those consultations. They have come back today and we have met with Mr President.
“We’re happy to announce today that both the federal government and organised Labour have agreed on an increase of N62,000. The new National Minimum Wage that we expect us to present to the National Assembly for legislation is N70,000.
“But that is not all. There is also a boost like Mr. President has assured in ensuring that massive investment is going to be made in the area of infrastructure. There is also a deepening of the investment of the federal government in renewable energy. More money is going to go into the acquisition of more buses, the CNG buses, Nigeria is going to be more CNG compliant, according to the president,” Mr Idris said.
While thanking the organised Labour for the role played at the meeting, the minister also promised that President Tinubu would look into the demands of SSANU and NASU.
He said Labour recognised the federal government’s role in ensuring autonomy for the local governments in the country.
According to Mr Idris, the labour leaders had seen the president and had not come to the meeting to negotiate.
“They have seen the magnanimity of the president, and today, the leadership of Labour said they didn’t come here for negotiation. Not at all; they came here in that deep sense of patriotism to ensure that Nigeria remains united, Nigeria becomes more prosperous, and it is in that spirit, that they are in agreement with what the federal government has done today.
“We want to thank them for their patriotism. We also want to thank Mr President, the federal government, the sub-nationals, and the organised private sector for going through this painstaking effort and for ensuring that at the end of the day, Nigeria is the winner for it all,” the minister said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said President Tinubu did not disappoint the Nigerian workers with the offer of N70,000 minimum wage.
She said the president agreed that the wage should be reviewed every three years instead of five years.
“Recall that Labour saw Mr President last week, and they asked that he should give them one week to consult more. And of course, at the end of the day, the consultation was very fruitful because the President said he has to be a father, that it is not the issue of the law of who is right or who will blink the first, that he is our father like he has always said, that we should end the issue of give me 1,000, add 1,000 and all that.
“That, first and foremost, that the review of this minimum wage policy has to be reduced to three years, that five years is too long a time to get any minimum wage review that’s not very healthy.
“And as, of course, that Labour should look at the indices of the economy and accept N70,000, minimum wage, and, of course, that it has to be reviewed every three years. Not more than that, of course, so that we are able to evaluate and see whether our economy is picking up or whether something has to be done further, considering the sensitivity of the issue.”