The Federal Government is set to announce the new minimum wage as the Tripartite Committee completes its assignment for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.
NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made this known while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, the committee used the two-day to reconvene and deliberate on a new minimum wage figure that was acceptable to all employers of labour in the country.
“I want to assure workers that all has been concluded and will be passed for signing within the week.
“I also want to appreciate the Organised Private Sector, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) for their resolve to pay the new minimum wage when it is signed into law,” he said.
The NLC president, however, refused to disclose the figure arrived at by the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage.
Wabba said the presidency would make it public after deliberation by the National Economic Council meeting.
The organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), on Sept. 30, suspended its warning strike on a new minimum wage embarked upon on Sept. 26.
The organised labour had embarked on the strike after a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government for failing to reconvene meeting to come out with its own figure on the new minimum wage.
The three unions had demanded N65,500 as new minimum wage for workers, while the private employers and some state governors were proposing N25,000.
The Federal Government, under Shehu Shagari’s administration introduced a minimum wage of N125 per month in 1981.
In 1989, General Ibrahim Babangida’s government increased it to N250.
The General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s administration increased the minimum wage to N3,000 in 1999, while President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government raised it to N5,500 for states and N7,500 for federal workers and those of oil producing states in 2000
The government of President Goodluck Jonathan increased the minimum wage to N18,000 in 2010/2011.
