President Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to present the cost implications for a new minimum wage within two days.

Tinubu gave the directive at a meeting with the government negotiation team led by the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.

This comes after the Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) suspended the strike embarked upon over a new minimum wage and the hike in electricity tariff.

The Labour suspended the strike which commenced on Monday, June 3, for about one week.

The industrial action was suspended after the federal government declared its readiness to offer higher than the N60,000 national minimum wage it proposed to the tripartite committee deliberating on the issue.

Speaking with journalists after a closed-door meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed that President Tinubu had a meeting with the representatives of the federal government in the negotiation with the Labour on the minimum wage.

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Idris said: “The president has just summoned a meeting of all those who negotiated on behalf of the federal government led by the secretary to the government of the federation, the minister of finance was there, the minister of budget planning, the minister of information, the minister of budget and national planning, the minister of labour, and the NNPCL Group Managing Director.

“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.”

The minister further assured of Tinubu’s readiness to accept the committee’s resolutions, saying: “President Tinubu is determined to go with what the committee has said and he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians.

“The government is not against or opponent of labour discussions. The government is not an opponent of wage increase but what is there is that government is always there to ensure that there is a balance between what government pronouncement is and what the realities are on the ground.

“Therefore, we will work assiduously to ensure that whatever promises the government makes are promises that will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.”

Idris disclosed that Tinubu also directed the government representatives to work collectively with the private sector and the sub-nationals to achieve a new affordable wage award for Nigerians.

He added: “The wage award is not just that of the federal government as I mentioned earlier, the sub-nationals are involved, the organised private sector is involved; it was labour that stepped out during that procedure. Now we have come back to the negotiation table.

“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.”

The Star