Members of the organized labour have urged Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to present any figure regarding the minimum wage bill to the National Assembly without prior consultation with them and the members of the Organised Private Sector.
Labour leaders also reminded the Tinubu-led federal government that workers across all cadres in the country would demand the payment of minimum wage arrears, irrespective of the time it takes to sign the new minimum wage into law.
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), disclosed this to journalists on Thursday on the sideline of the ongoing International Labour Conference at the Palais du Nation in Geneva, Switzerland.
Recall that the last national minimum wage law, which expired on April 18, 2024, after completing its five-year lifespan, came into effect on April 17, 2019, when the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, signed it into law.
Speaking at the joint briefing, Ajaero emphasized the importance of demanding payment of minimum wage arrears irrespective of when a new national minimum wage law is passed by the National Assembly. He stated that labour expects Tinubu to invite tripartite bodies to a meeting where the ability to pay will be discussed before arriving at a final figure.
Ajaero stated, “We do not expect the President to present a final figure to the National Assembly without consulting with organised labour, employers, and state governors. Everyone will still come together to discuss before transmission to the National Assembly.”
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Corroborating Ajaero’s statement, the TUC President added that even after transmission to the National Assembly, labour would continue to lobby and push for more to secure the best possible figure for Nigerian workers.
When asked about the exact figure inserted in the report submitted to the President, the leaders of the two labour centres denied knowledge of its full content, insisting that they did not append their signatures to any report.
“Moreover, we have not seen the content of what has been submitted to Tinubu. We will insist on seeing the content and appending our signatures to every page. We will not append our signatures to any page we are not comfortable with,” they stated.
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