SAN FRANCISCO, January 16, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday declined to give details of what was discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed, alongside other ministers whose memos were considered, traditionally brief State House correspondents after every meeting of the council.
Reports indicated that the meeting was called to discuss the issue of a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
Asked if that was the agenda of the meeting, the information minister said “that is correct”.
Pressed to brief on the outcome, the Minister said he cannot because the National Economic Council (NEC), will have to also discuss and take a position first after which the government will speak.
Nigerian workers under the auspices of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are agitating for a raise in the minimum wage from current N18,000 to N30, 000.
While the President had expressed the willingness of the federal government to implement the new wage as demanded, he said he can only do so in consonance with state governors who employ the majority of public service workers.
Most of the governors of the 36 states, however, said they cannot afford to pay the new wage without recourse to mass retrenchment while NLC had last week held protests across the country over the delay in the implementation of the new wage.
The labour union are also threatening an industrial action over the matter.
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