Minimum wage: FG, organised labour meeting inconclusive

Olufemi Atoyebi, Abuja The Federal Government and organised labour on Friday failed to reach an agreement over the proposed N30,000 minimum wage after a seven-hour meeting at the Ministry of Labour and Employment headquarters in Abuja. However, the meeting was postponed till Monday for further negotiations. The meeting was called to discuss the new minimum wage proposed by the tripartite committee that deliberated on the issue and how to avert a nationwide protest by organised labour on January 8. At the meeting were the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, Minister for Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, and Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed. Also in attendance were the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, General Secretary of the union, Peter Ozo-Eson, President of Trade Union Congress, Kaigama Bobboi, and members of the tripartite committee. Speaking at the end of the meeting, Wabba told journalists that the meeting made substantial progress but added that the protest scheduled for Tuesday would be determined by the outcome of Monday’s meeting. “Part of the report submitted (by the tripartite committee to the presidency) was all inclusive but the processes that will ensure that a clean bill is transmitted to the National Assembly and what is termed physical issue will be tidied up on Monday.” Ngige said President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to paying a new minimum wage but one that was sustainable. He explained that process leading to the transmission of an executive bill from the Presidency to the National Assembly was discussed but would be finalised on Monday. He said, “We have made substantial progress in terms of the transmission of the bill to the National Assembly. We adjourned to look at the issue. It is a new bill for National Minimum Wage Act 2019.” Asked if the state governments were aware of the issues raised and discussed at the meeting, the minister said the issue of the minimum wage was on the exclusive list of the constitution. He also said the technical committee being proposed by the FG would advise the state governments on how to raise funds to sustain the new wage. Ngige added, “The President inaugurated the minimum wage committee and provided them the equipment and resources to work. We have the report and we are working on it. It is in a raw form and it will be milled before transmission to the National Assembly; that is what we are doing now and how to make it fast. “The high level technical committee will not discuss the minimum wage. It is about budget and planning for the federal and state governments on sustainability and how they can get the money. We don’t have to pay in 2019 and not pay in 2020. The committee will advise the state governments groaning under wage bill on what to do. On Monday we will continue and arrive at a transmission date.” The minister also said the N160bn in the 2019 budget was not only for the minimum wage but also for “consequential financial” that would occur. At the beginning of the meeting, Wabba told government’s representatives that the union expected the FG to have completed the process of implementing the tripartite report, which was submitted more than two months ago. He said, “Since the issue of minimum wage, which expired in 2016, we have always followed due process. The stage we are is not about implementation but how to get to the next stage. But when there is no information, there will be speculation. https://punchng.com/minimum-wage-fg-organised-labour-meeting-inconclusive/amp/?__twitter_impression=true