NLC clarifies position on withdrawing from proposed nationwide protests
The Nigeria Labour Congress said the government must accede to its demands on minimum wage based on practical realities in the country.
The NLC also faulted a statement by President Bola Tinubu during a meeting with some governors and members of the National Assembly on the occasion of the nation’s 25th Democracy Day anniversary.
Tinubu had said that the government would only be able to pay its workers what the country can afford.
“Senate president, deputy senate president, you will get a notice from me if I have changed my mind on minimum wage. We are going to do it — what Nigeria can afford, what you can afford, what I can afford. They ask you to cut your coat according to your size if you have size at all,” Tinubu had said.
But in his reaction, the spokesperson of the NLC, Benson Upah, in an interview with our correspondent, described the president’s statement as a contradiction of his promise to pay a living wage.
“This will be in breach of his promise to pay a living wage which is superior to a minimum wage. Moreover, there is unanimity of opinion that government accede to the demand of Labour based on practical realities,” he stated.
Disagreements between the government, Labour, and the Organised Private Sector have continued to brew over the new minimum wage.
During his nationwide broadcast to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Nigeria’s democracy on Wednesday, June 12, Tinubu announced that a consensus had been reached on the long-debated new minimum wage between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour.
In the national broadcast, the President revealed that an executive bill would soon be sent to the National Assembly to formalise the new minimum wage agreement.
He stated, “In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with Organised Labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.”
However, in a swift reaction, the Organised Labour stated that it had not reached any agreement with the Federal Government Tripartite Committee on the new minimum wage as claimed by the President.
In a statement on Wednesday, the acting President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Adewale Adeyanju, said there was no agreement reached by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage when negotiations ended on Friday, June 7, 2024.
Adeyanju stated that at the last meetings, the demand remained N250,000 from the Organised Labour and that anything to the contrary won’t be accepted. He said, “Our demand remains N250,000 only, and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.
“We are, therefore, surprised at the submission of Mr President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC. There was none and we must let the President, Nigerians, and other national stakeholders understand this immediately to avoid a mix-up in the ongoing conversation around the national minimum wage.”
However, the state governors have vehemently opposed the offers and demands so far made by the Federal Government, OPS, and Organised Labour on the new minimum wage.
Speaking under their umbrella forum, the governors had maintained that compelling them to pay the minimum wage proposed by both the Federal Government and Labour would have adverse consequences on their delivery of critical infrastructural projects for their states.
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