• President suggests two years minimum wage review
• Ajaero: No shift in our N250,000 demand, status quo remains
• Tinubu meets Shettima, governors after labour parley
• Labour worried over Tinubu’s stance, to convene organ meeting
The macabre dance for a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers continued yesterday with no end in sight as the consultations between Organised Labour and President Bola Tinubu, hyped to lay to rest disputations over an agreeable wage, ended in an anti-climax with the meeting adjourned without a conclusive agreement.
The meeting called at the instance of the President ended with no meaningful resolutions reached as both sides stuck to their guns.
The team arrived at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, around 2:00 p.m. and were led straight to meet with President Tinubu in his office over the thorny issue.
The Labour leaders, who emerged from the meeting, however, told reporters that their consultations with the Presidency would continue next week as they also have to go back to their organs to relay what the President discussed with them.
President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said the positions of N250,000 for Labour and N62,000 for the Federal Government still stands. We did not go into the naira and kobo with the president. The status quo in terms of the amount N250,000 and N62,000 remains until we finish this conversation,” he said.
On his part, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Usifo, said their objective is to dialogue with the President himself on the issue of the minimum wage, rather than his representatives.
He explained that having had several conversations with the President’s ‘agents’, it was necessary to communicate directly to the President as the bulk stops on his table.
“We made the argument labour would normally make. We made the economic analysis both on the fiscal and monetary side. We put all the issues forward. At the end, the President also made his remark and we all agreed to continue the conversation next week,” Usifo said.
Recall that the Tripartite Committee on the new national minimum wage had recently submitted two figures to the President as the organised private sector and the government team offered to pay N62,000, while the organised labour demanded N250,000. Following the disagreement over the figure, the President has delayed to send any figure to the National Assembly through Executive Bill to consult with all the relevant stakeholders in order to resolve the contentious issues.
Earlier, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, likened the meeting to what she described as “fruitful deliberation between father and children. We are hopeful that very soon everything will be resolved. Of course, when father and children talk, you know what it is? That’s just exactly what has happened. It took us almost about an hour. I believe that it’s all for good.”
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed optimism that there would be a positive result after next week’s meeting. A source privy to the meeting disclosed that President Tinubu urged the organised labour to consider the N62,000 offer as it’s double of the outdated N30,000.
“President Tinubu suggested that instead of waiting for five years to review the minimum wage, we can continue to dialogue and see the possibility of reviewing it every two years.”
The source, who prefers to remain anonymous, said when the NLC president reminded Tinubu that it would amount to wage reduction if labour accepts N62,000 since the least paid worker currently goes home with N72,000 (including wage award and 40 per cent increase), he (President Tinubu) was just laughing.
The President, however, noted that workers deserve improved welfare, better wages, as well as safe and enhanced working conditions as the driving force of the nation. “I pay attention to everything around me. A happy worker is a productive worker. And society depends on the productivity of the happy worker,” the President said.
Ajaero emphasised the need for an upward adjustment to the minimum wage, noting: “Between living wage and minimum wage, we need to find a balance. Things are difficult for the Nigerian worker.”
IMMEDIATELY after meeting the labour leaders, President Tinubu was engaged in another closed-doors meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima and some governors. Although the agenda of the meeting was not made public, it came few hours after the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment on the financial independence of the third tier of the federation, the local government.
The governors at the meeting included the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara; Charles Soludo of Anambra; and Usman Ododo of Kogi.
Meanwhile, some labour stakeholders have described as unfavourable the meeting with President Tinubu, saying that the expected outcome was not substantial to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerian workers as regards the new national minimum wage.
Labour said Tinubu did not convey a message that would better the lives of Nigerians following the current harsh socioeconomic realities. A source, who was privy to the meeting, said Tinubu insisting on N62,000 minimum wage offer by the Federal Government as against the N250,000 demanded by labour, leaves room for worry, stating that government was not in a hurry to resolve the lingering minimum wage impasse.
To this end, he said the NLC and the TUC would call an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, where decisions would be taken by both organs on the way forward.
This is just as the President of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Funmi Ekundayo, has called on all the critical stakeholders involved in the minimum wage process to consider national interest while achieving a realistic figure for Nigerian workers. She said expectations must be measured and realistic through effective dialogue.
Ekundayo said raising the minimum wage to a humongous figure that is not achievable affects the economy, especially with the current high rate of inflation. The ICSAN boss demanded a sustainable minimum wage that would not bring about job losses amid the high cost of living.
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