President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to unveil a proposed new minimum wage for Nigerian workers next week. This is according to the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, who made this known when he appeared on Channels TV program, ‘Politics Today’ on Tuesday.
This marks a breakthrough in negotiations between the Federal Government and Labour unions and is coming on the heels of a crucial meeting held between one of the Labour Unions, the TUC and the federal government to discuss issues surrounding the removal of fuel subsidies and efforts to cushion the impact of the policy.
The federal government at the meeting, represented by Minister of Labour Simon Lalong, confirmed discussions with President Tinubu and Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun regarding the minimum wage issue.
“The minister of labour told us that he had an audience with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of finance and had reviewed the issue of wage award. But the president asked them to fine-tune the issues before he makes the announcement,” Comrade Osifo started on the program monitored by Podium Reporters.
The TUC President also revealed that the TUC had given the federal government a two-week ultimatum to address their demands or face the prospect of nationwide industrial action. Already, the NLC has threatened to embark on an indefinite nationwide industrial action if the federal government does not urgently address the minimum wage issue and ancillary other issues.
On how the Federal government agreed to make a pronouncement on the minimum Wage issue next week, the TUC President disclosed that, “the minister told us all these issues would be streamlined, but because the president has traveled, we should give him an extra two weeks. We said no; we don’t have an extra two weeks to give. After more discussions, he said the president would make a proper announcement next week.”
Comrade Osifo also said that besides the minimum wage, the TUC also engaged with the federal government concerning the distribution of palliatives to states where they stressed their commitment to monitoring the fair and effective allocation of these relief measures, as well as their desire to scrutinize the implementation template.
Also, issues related to taxation and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) deployment as alternative fuel for vehicles were raised during the discussions.