President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has instructed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, to calculate the cost implications of an affordable, sustainable, and realistic new minimum wage and present the figures within two days.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this directive while briefing State House Correspondents after a meeting between the negotiation team and the president at Aso Rock on Tuesday.
According to Idris, the president met with federal government representatives involved in the minimum wage negotiations with labour unions.
The meeting included George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF); Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and National Planning; Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment; and Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited.
Idris stated that President Tinubu directed Edun to compile the necessary figures and present the new minimum wage proposal within two days. This data will serve as the foundation for negotiations.
The president is committed to accepting the resolutions proposed by the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage. He emphasized that the federal government is not opposed to increasing the minimum wage but wants to ensure that any promises made are feasible.
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“We were all there to look at all issues, and the president has directed the minister of finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have figures ready for negotiation with labour,” Idris said. “The president is determined to go with what the committee has said, and he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians. The government is not an opponent of labour discussions or wage increases.”
He added that the committee is tasked with collaborating to provide Nigerians with an “affordable, sustainable, and realistic” minimum wage. “All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable, and also realistic,” he said.
Earlier, organized labour suspended an indefinite strike action for one week to negotiate with the federal government on the new minimum wage. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had initiated the strike on Monday due to the federal government’s failure to meet their minimum wage demands.
