‘We Are surprised At Mr. President’s Submission’-Labour Asserts N250,000 Minimum Wage Demand Stands
President Bola Tinubu’s claims on a reached agreement on new national minimum wages in his nationwide broadcast to make Democracy Day has been faulted by the organised labour.
In Tinubu’s broadcast, it was revealed that an executive bill will soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the new minimum wage agreement which will “as part of our law for the next five years or less.” quoted as saying.
Speaking further, the President stressed that his administration is sensitive enough to apply a democratic method over dictatorship in addressing the demands of labour unions.
Reacting to Tinubu’s address on the minimum wage, the acting President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Prince Adewale Adeyanju on Wednesday said there was no agreement reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage at the time negotiations ended on Friday, June 7, 2024.
Adding that, it is possible the President must have been misinformed, stressing that the Labour Union is still on their N250,000 demands.
The statement reads, “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the federal government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components.
“Our demand still remains N250,000, (two hundred and fifty thousand Naira) only and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.
“We are therefore surprised at the submission of Mr. President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC. There was none and it is important that we let the President, Nigerians and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage.”
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