New Minimum Wage: FG Reacts To Labour’s December 31 Deadline

The Federal Government on Friday, urged the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC), to discard the December 31 ultimatum over lingering disagreement
between organised labour and state governments on the proposed N30,000
national minimum wage.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed,
made the appeal while speaking with State House correspondents, after a
closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential
Villa, Abuja.

The organised labour had on Thursday, given the
ultimatum following Buhari’s statement that a “high powered technical
committee” would be set up, to device ways to ensure that implementation
of new minimum wage would not lead to an increase in the level of
borrowing.

However, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who addressed
newsmen on Thursday, expressed organized labour’s reservation over
President Buhari’s position, saying that setting up a technical
committee could not be a condition for passing the minimum wage report
to the National Assembly.

“We reject in its entirety the plan to
set up another `high powered technical committee’ on the minimum wage.
It is diversionary and a delay tactics,” he had stated

But
Mohammed, who described the NLC as “a very patriotic union”, said he was
confident the organized labour would not do anything that would
embarrass the government or Nigerians.

He said: “The Nigeria
Labour Congress is a very patriotic union and I am very confident that
they will not do anything that will embarrass the government

“Continuous engagement I think is the key, we will continue to engage them and I
think they do also fully understand what the challenges are, and both
parties are determined to ensure that a common ground is arriving at
which will be comfortable for all.”