The Federal Government on Wednesday called on Organised Labour to consider the impact of its push for a higher national minimum wage, calling it unrealistic and potent to cause economic jeopardy.
Making the call, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris stated that the N250,000 minimum wage demanded by labour could undermine the economy, leading to mass retrenchment of workers, and ultimately, jeopardise the welfare of Nigerians.
Recall that the labour unions on Wednesday, disproven claims by President Bola Tinubu that an agreement had been reached on the new national minimum wage, during his Democracy Day broadcast.
The revelation by Tinubu that an executive bill would soon be submitted to the National Assembly to codify the agreements reached in the minimum wage negotiations between Labour, the private sector, the states and the Federal Government drew the union's ire.
Prince Adewale Adeyanju, who is acting on behalf of the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, who is attending an International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva, Switzerland remains insistent that as of the time negotiations ended on June 7, no agreement had been reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage.
The parties had engaged in prolonged talks for weeks with the unions insisting on N250,000 minimum wage while the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector offered N62,000.
Dismissing the offers made by the Federal Government and the OPS, the labour unions said they would not negotiate what they described as ‘starvation wage.’
The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, said Labour would not accept the latest offer of N62,000 and the N100,000 proposal made by some individuals and economists.
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