The Organised Labour movement has expressed its hope that the new minimum wage would be announced, passed into law and its implementation begin before the end of next month.
President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, stated this when he received the Special Adviser on Labour Matter from the Kogi State governor, Onuh Edoka, and his delegation in Abuja.
Osifo said there was a need for the National Tripartite Negotiation Committee, made up of the Government, Labour, and Organised Labour, to find a common ground so that the bill would receive prompt attention from President Bola Tinubu as well as the National Assembly and be passed into law.
He said: “What we are working on from both labour centres is that before the end of July, we should have a new minimum wage that must have passed through the processes, and which must have been assented to by the President, so that the plight of the workers will improve much more.
“So that the economic challenges that we are facing as a country will be improved upon; so that an average worker will be able to go to market and buy one or two things to take care of his or her family because of this skyrocketing inflation that we have in our country.
“As you are aware, Labour has submitted N250,000, the government and organised private sector N62,000. Let both parties come together; let all parties come together. We will resolve and have a common front, so that the President will be able to send the bill to the National Assembly, and at the end of the day, we will have a new national minimum wage. This is key; this is a topic that is germane for all labour unions today in Nigeria”.
Osifo, who commended the government of Kogi State for the clarification of payment of the N30,000 minimum wage to workers, however, noted that State governments should begin to put plans in place to begin the implementation of the new wage once it is signed into law.
Earlier, the Special Adviser on Labour Matter to the Kogi State Governor, Onuh Edoka, noted that the administration of Governor Ahmed Ododo has corrected the shortcomings of the immediate-past administration, especially workers’ welfare.
