THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have maintained their N250,000 demand and the N62,000 amount proposed by the tripartite committee for a new minimum wage until after negotiations with President Bola Tinubu.
While labour insists on N250,000 as the new minimum wage, the committee has set it at N62,000.
However, during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu yesterday at the Presidential Villa, organised labour, led by NLC President Joe Ajaero and his TUC colleague Festus Osifo, stated that the demands had not changed.
Ajaero stated that the meeting, which lasted about an hour and was later postponed until next week, was not a negotiation, and the two figures remained on the table.
“In the real sense, it wasn’t a negotiation but a discussion and we have had that discussion. We agreed to look at the real terms probably and reconvene in the next week. So, that’s where we are because we didn’t go down there to talk naira and kobo,” Ajaero said.
“At least there were some basic issues that we agreed on. The status quo in terms of the amount N250,000 and N62,000 remains until we finish this conversation.”
According to the TUC boss, the labour delegation informed the President of the economic difficulties Nigerians are going through.
“In the meeting, we tried to put the issues on the table, issues that are bothering and biting Nigerians today. The economic difficulties and the value of the naira, how it has also eroded, and how these have affected the prices of commodities and goods in the market.
“So, we tried to put these before Mr President because he is the president of the country and the bulk stops at his table,” the TUC boss said.
“We have had all the conversations with all his agents, but today we said let us meet with the father of the country and have this conversation and make the argument that labour always makes. We made all the arguments, the economic analysis, macro, micro, fiscal and monetary issues.
“So, we put everything forward and at the end, the President made his remark as the president and we all agreed let’s go back, we internalise it, we have some conversation, and by one week time, we will come back and we will continue the meeting.”
Meanwhile, the federal government hopes that the standoff over the new minimum wage would be addressed by next week.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, and his Labour and Employment (state) counterpart, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, made the remarks following a closed-door meeting between President Tinubu and labour leaders.
Recall that after completing its duty in June, the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage gave two estimates to the President: the organised private sector and the government team offered to pay N62,000, while organised labour wanted N250,000.
The debate on a standard value has caused the President to defer delivering any figure to the National Assembly via the Executive Bill, opting to speak with relevant parties first.