The Federal Government has agreed to set up a committee for the review of the new minimum wage in February.
The Special Assistant to the Minister of Labour and Employment on Media, Mr. Nwachukwu Obidiwe, said the government would set up the tripartite committee for the new minimum wage immediately after the submission of the report of the palliative committee next week.
The Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, had referred the media to Obidiwe for the government’s position on the delay in the constitution of the committee on the new minimum wage in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
The Federal Government had set up a 16-man committee on June 1, 2016, on the implementation of palliatives put in place to cushion the effect of the increase in the pump price of petrol from N86 and N86.50k to N145.
Obidiwe stated, “The Technical Committee on Palliatives will submit its report by next week. The Federal Government will now set up another committee to review the minimum wage. This one will be ready next week.
“Once done, the FG will set up a tripartite committee, comprising the FG, state governments, labour while the public and private sectors will be represented by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly.
“January is almost coming to an end; the committee will be set up early February.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress said the palliative committee should not be used to delay action on the commencement of the process for the determination of the new Minimum Wage.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, told our correspondent on the telephone, on Tuesday, that the demand for a new Minimum Wage preceded the increase in the pump price of fuel, which led to the constitution of the palliative committee. – Punch.
