The organised labour has submitted a fresh demand for higher minimum wage to the tripartite committee on minimum wage.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stated that it had demanded above N56,000 to the committee to reflect inflation and other economic realities in the country.
The acting NLC President, Kiri Mohammed, disclosed this at the 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Civil Service Union on Thursday in Abuja.
Mohammed, who declined to mention the exact figure the organised labour was demanding, explained that it was a joint decision between the NLC and the Trade Union Congress.
He said, “We submitted our request, NLC has decided to look at the figure and modify it, we actually modified it, an upward review above N56,000, but I am not going to tell you how much because the president (Ayuba Wabba) is supposed to say it.
“We have submitted it to the secretariat of the tripartite committee. The review is in conjunction with the TUC. You can’t do it alone, all of us met and decided to put heads together and look at the realities on the ground.”
Reacting to reports that the new minimum wage might not be paid this year because it was not captured in the 2018 budget, the NLC chief expressed confidence that the minimum wage bill would be passed by the National Assembly and implemented by the Federal Government.
Mohammed explained that the government would implement the recommendations of the tripartite committee on minimum wage, stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to implementing the outcomes of the ongoing negotiations for new wages for workers.
He said, “Who made the budget? I believe if they (government) are serious, we can finish this matter towards the middle of this year, June, July.
“If we can finish at that time, then before the end of the year, certainly the President must send whatever we agreed to the National Assembly for them to look at it and for him to assent it as a law, but I know that once we agreed, government would implement whatever is agreed.”
The acting NLC President, however, complained about the slow pace of negotiations by the tripartite committee, noting that it had not held any meeting since it was inaugurated.
“We had an inaugural meeting and they have not called for a meeting, I won’t call it a deliberate delay, but it looks as if there is a deliberate delay. We have not started discussion or anything,” Mohammed said.
