Nigerian employees contemplate strike as they await presidential decision on minimum wage report

A meeting to discuss the next course of action will be held in emergency, according to organised labour, as the tripartite committee on the national minimum wage delivers its report to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a Monday exclusive phone interview, Nigeria Labour Congress spokesperson Benson Upah revealed this to Obasanjonews.com.

He claims that the meeting’s conclusion will decide if organised labour would carry out strikes in the upcoming days.

According to Upah, “the relevant organs of the two unions will meet, and whatever decision they make will be communicated to the public.”

He did not, however, reveal the precise day of the encounter.

Remember that the federal government proposed N62,000 as the minimum salary after the minimum wage tripartite committee met on Monday, but organised labour insisted on N250,000.

The report includes suggestions for a minimum salary of N57,000 and N62,000 made by state governors and the organised private sector, respectively.

On Monday, the tripartite committee report was reported to have been received by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

This development has brought President Tinubu to the forefront of attention. It is anticipated that he would act on the findings and send an executive bill to the National Assembly about the minimum wage in advance of Nigeria’s Democracy Day celebrations on June 12th.

In the meantime, NLC President Joe Ajaero denied that the strike would resume on Tuesday during his remarks on Monday at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. He pointed out that the labour union is awaiting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision regarding the tripartite committee’s report.

“We are awaiting the President’s decision. When the new figure is released, our National Executive Council (NEC) will discuss it,” he stated.

Remember that the nation’s economy was closed for a week last Monday due to the indefinite strike called by organised labour.

Earlier, organised labour rejected an N60,000 minimum wage offer from the federal government. The N62,000 new minimum offer is just N2,000 more than the previous one. Ajaero pointed out that there is a big disparity between Labour’s suggested minimum salary of N250,000 and N62,000 (the current rate).