Following an agreement between President Bola Tinubu and the organised labour on a seventy thousand naira new minimum wage, the National Assembly will on Tuesday get an executive bill on the new national minimum wage.
The wage will replace the N30,000 minimum wage that expired on April 18, 2024.
It could be recalled that last week Thursday, the President met with the NLC and TUC leadership but the meeting could not reach a consensus and it was postponed by one week.
Briefing State House correspondents after the President’s session with the union leaders on yesterday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, described the conclusion of the meeting as “A happy day for Nigeria.”
He said besides the minimum wage agreement, the government has also agreed to pay the withheld salaries of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The government further pledged massive investments in infrastructure and renewable energy, including the acquisition of more CNG buses to enhance the nation’s transition to cleaner energy, as well as expressing commitment to ensuring local government autonomy.
Idris noted that the sub-nationals have also held their various meetings with Mr President following the submission of the tripartite agreement to Mr President.
Speaking further, the minister lauded the labour leaders for their patriotism, saying, it is in the spirit of patriotism that they agreed with what the Federal Government has done today.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said Tinubu adopted a fatherly approach, emphasising the need for a review of the minimum wage policy every three years, rather than the current five-year cycle.
She further hinted that the President also directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, to review the issue of SSANU and NASU payments, with a waiver to pay the outstanding amounts.
On his part, the President of the NLC, Jeo Ajaero, said organised labour agreed to the new national minimum wage of N70,000 because of the President’s willingness to review the wage every three years, rather than the usual five-year cycle.
While acknowledging the economic situation, Ajaero expressed mixed feelings about the agreement but noted that the NLC would take the proposal back to its members for further discussion and buy-in.
He said rather than settling on a figure that we would wait for five years, it’s like we’ll have to now negotiate even two times within five years, to go up. That is one of the reasons why we decided to reach where we are today because of the proviso that we can review in the next three years.