FG, Labour Reach Agreement on Minimum Wage

• FG, Labour Reach Agreement on Minimum Wage

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said the Federal Government and organised labour have finally agreed on consequential adjustment holding back the implementation of the new minimum wage.

Keyamo, who tweeted from the venue, did not give complete details of the outcome but said: “After some delicate negotiations (with both ministers as conciliators), the government and labour have finally reached an agreement on the consequential adjustment of other wages following the implementation of the enhanced minimum wage of N30,000. We are working on the communiqué.”

In another statement, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Quadri, and the Secretary-General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi confirmed the new agreement, commending both parties for their efforts at improving the lives of Nigerian workers.

“We commend the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, and her team for their sincerity. Though they argued that the government could not afford to meet our earlier demand of N30,000 minimum wage across board because of the economic situation in the country, we made them understand that some people could not be more Nigerian than others. If we are tightening our belts, government should also do so,” the statement stated.

Alade Lawal, the secretary of the JNCSNC, had earlier said government and labour had reached a workable agreement given current economic situation.

He said both parties agreed to raise the minimum wage of workers at grade level 07 by 23.2 per cent, while grade level 08, 09, 10 to 14 and 15 to 17 will enjoy 20 per cent, 19 per cent, 16 per cent and 14 per cent increase, respectively.

The government and labour had agreed to raise the nation’s minimum wage to N30,000 earlier this year to reflect current economic reality. However, despite been part of the numerous meetings and negotiations that led to the agreement, the Federal Government has said available resource could not cover agreed minimum wage. Therefore, a consequential adjustment was made to bridge the possible gap.