June 12, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, assured the organised labour that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage for workers will soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.
The President disclosed this in his Democracy Day speech to mark the 25 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria.
THEWILL recalls that organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), had suspended its indefinite strike last Tuesday for one week to allow room for negotiation after it rejected the N60,000 earlier proposed by the Federal Government as national minimum wage.
On Friday, the Federal Government and Organised Private Sector (OPS), through the Tripartite Committee, offered N62,000 even as organised labour shifted its demand from N494,000 to N250,000 national minimum wage.
The unions had also suspended any action to resume its suspended industrial action pending the decision of President Tinubu on the national minimum wage.
Speaking on Wednesday in his Democracy Day speech, President Tinubu said the Federal Government negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage.
Although THEWILL recalls the lack of consensus between organised labour and the Federal Government team on the actual minimum wage. While the Federal Government and OPS offered N62,000, labour demanded N250,000.
But President Tinubu, on Wednesday, said, “In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.”
On the strike by organised labour, President Tinubu said the Federal Government chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
“In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government of the past would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
“Nobody was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.
“Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy. These themselves shall continue to animate my policies and interaction with the constituent parts of our political economy,” he said.
