In yet another episode of the never-ending minimum wage saga, the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage gathered once more at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja on Wednesday. This highly anticipated meeting was meant to continue the heated negotiations over a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
Attending from the Federal Government were the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; and the Minister of Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. They were joined by representatives from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service of the Federation. On the labor side, heavyweights like Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), were present.
However, the state governors were conspicuously absent, leaving the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdulateef Shittu, to represent their interests.
President Bola Tinubu had urged the committee to hasten their deliberations, calculate the numbers, and present them to him quickly. President Tinubu has publicly committed to a wage above N60,000, while the NLC and TUC, ever flexible, are no longer fixated on their initial demand of N494,000.
This meeting follows the suspension of an indefinite strike by the Organised Labour on Tuesday, after they agreed to engage in daily negotiations with the Federal Government. Wednesday’s meeting was the first in this new series of daily dialogues, marking yet another chapter in this drawn-out minimum wage debate.
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