President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s meeting with organized Labour on Thursday, July 11, concluded without any new developments regarding the national minimum wage.
Previously, the government and the organized private sector had agreed on a N62,000 wage, while organized Labour insisted on a minimum of N250,000.
A new meeting between President Tinubu and organized Labour is scheduled for next week to continue discussions on the national minimum wage.
Labour representatives indicated that the one-week break will allow them to reflect on the issues raised during Thursday’s discussions.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the meeting, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Usifoh, affirmed that the meeting did not discuss anything in terms of naira and kobo.
The minister noted that President Tinubu only had a discussion with the leadership of organized labour as a father to children but expressed the hope that a solution will soon be found to the minimum wage issue.
“It was a meeting between father and children and… I think we are hopeful that very soon everything will be resolved. When father and children talk, you know what it is. That’s just exactly what has happened and it took us almost like an hour, and I believe that it’s all for good”, she said.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, President of the NLC, Comrade Ajaero said that there was nothing like negotiation at the meeting but rather a discussion on the current economic realities in the country.
According to him, “In a real sense, it wasn’t a negotiation but a discussion and we have had that discussion. We agreed to look at the real terms probably and reconvene in the next one week.
“So that’s where we are because we didn’t go down there to talk naira and kobo. At least there were some basic issues that we agreed on”, he said.
Asked whether the organized labour insisted on the N250,000 demand at the meeting, the NLC President said: “I remember mentioning that we didn’t go into Naria and Kobo discussion. Now the status quo in terms of the amount N250,000 and N62,000 remains until we finish this conversation.”
Also speaking, the President of TUC, Osifo, said that the organized Labour put all the economic indices on the table and how it was biting on Nigerians.
“In the meeting, we tried to put the issues on the table. Issues that are bordering and biting Nigerians today, are the economic difficulties and the value of naira, how it has also eroded, and how these have affected the prices of commodities and goods in the market.
“So, we tried to put these before Mr President because he is the President of the country and the bulk stops at his table.
“We have had all the conversations with all his agents, but today (Thursday) we said let us meet with the father of the country and have this conversation and make the argument that Labour always makes.
“We made all the arguments, the economic analysis, macro, micro, fiscal and monetary issues. So, we put everything forward and at the end, the President made his remark as the President and we all agreed let’s go back to internalize it, have some conversations and by one week time, we will come back and we will continue the meeting”, he said.
Speaking in an interview, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed optimism that there would be a positive result after next week’s meeting.
“Recall that already there is 62,000 naira that has been put out there from the government side and the organized private sector but the organized labour is still not accepting that but we know that they will come to the table, we know that this is something that is going to be workable for Nigerians.
“The organized labour and the government will reach an agreement. We have adjourned now for a week. The labour union has asked the government to allow them At least a week to discuss this further and we have allowed them. We’re going to reconvene in the next one week and we hope and we believe by the end of the day, we’ll have something good for all Nigerians.
“We do hope that by the time we come together again next week, we’ll have something that we can put out for Nigerians to see and to agree with.”
However, a source privy to the meeting said that the President urged the organized labour to consider the N62,000 offer the federal government and the organized private sector made.
According to the source, President Tinubu narrated what led to the subsidy removal and how Nigeria was feeding her neighbours and was suffering.
The source said: “President Tinubu suggested that instead of waiting for five years to review the minimum wage, we can continue to dialogue and see the possibility of reviewing it every two years.
“He also said that the Organized Labour should consider the N62,000 offer because it is double of the N30,000 we were paying.”
The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that when the NLC President reminded Tinubu that it would amount to wage reduction if the organized labour accepts N62,000 as the least paid worker currently goes home with N72,000 (including wage award and 40% increase), he (President Tinubu) was just laughing.
