The Federal Government has increased its offer of a new national minimum wage to N62,000, while organised labour has reduced its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.
The Federal Government has increased its offer of a new national minimum wage to N62,000, while organised labour has reduced its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.
This comes after the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, submitted the cost implication of minimum wage to President Bola Tinubu.
A source confirmed this to our correspondent on Friday night in Abuja.
“After wasting our time, they finally came up with the offer of N62,000 which was backed by the private sector. Labour also reduced ours to N250,000. This is embarrassing,” the source who is part of negotiation from the labour side said.
Tinubu had earlier directed Edun to present the cost implications for a new minimum wage within two days.
The President gave the order at a meeting with the government negotiation team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Governors of the 36 states of the federation and the organised private sector were against paying as high as N60,000. They insisted that any figure above N57,000 may not be sustainable.
The Director Media and Public Affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Hajiya Halimah Salihu Ahmed, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
The major argument by the governors, according to insiders, is that the states would be left with nothing for developmental projects if they accepted to pay a minimum wage above N57,000, as they would have to pay a large chunk of their resources as wages to workers.
The statement reads in part, “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is in agreement that a new minimum wage is due. The Forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.
“However, the Forum urges all parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners.
“The NGF cautions parties in this important discussion to look beyond just signing a document for the sake of it; any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.
“All things considered, the NGF holds that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal is not sustainable and can not fly. It will simply mean that many states will spend all their FAAC allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.
“In fact, a few states will end up borrowing to pay workers every month. We do not think this will be in the collective interest of the country, including workers.
“We appeal that all parties involved, especially the labour unions, consider all the socioeconomic variables and settle for an agreement that is sustainable, durable, and fair to all other segments of the society who have legitimate claim to public resources.”
Recall that organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, had embarked on a nationwide strike on Monday to demand an increased minimum wage for workers and the reversal of the recently increased electricity tariffs.
However, the labour union leadership suspended the strike on Tuesday for five days after signing a commitment with the Federal Government to resume negotiations and come up with a new minimum wage within a week.
It is not yet clear if labour will accept the new proposal from the government.
The Nigerian Governors Forum had, earlier on Friday, said any minimum wage above N60,000 will not be sustainable.
