The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) disregarded the presidential speech and insisted on N250,000 as minimum wage. On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, while celebrating the democratic approach over dictatorship, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu revealed that an executive bill will soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalize the new minimum wage agreement.
Moments later, the acting President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, said the Tripartite Committee reached an agreement on the National Minimum Wage when the negotiations ended on Friday, June 7, 2024.
The body insisted on two figures, N250,000 from Organised Labour and N62,000 from the government and Organised Private Sector, as the amount should have been submitted to the President.
“We reiterate that it will be tough for Nigerian workers to accept any national minimum wage figure that approximates a starvation Wage. We cannot be working and yet remain in abject poverty.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) attentively listened to the Democracy Day Presidential address delivered by His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, especially concerning the ongoing National Minimum Wage negotiations. While the President may have accurately recounted parts of our democratic journey’s history, it is evident that he has been misinformed regarding the outcome of the wage negotiation process.
However, a report from the NLC body states, “Fully armed soldiers surrounded us while we were in a negotiation with the government, and despite denials, recent statements by senior officials of the government reaffirmed our fears contrary to the assurances by the government.
“However, we remain assured that the President’s democratic credentials will come to the fore in favor of Nigerian workers and masses.”
An NLC statement revealed, “In the face of labor’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
“No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labor leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.”
