Labour rejects Tinubu’s Claims of agreement on minimum wage

The Ñigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has declined President Bola Tinubu’s claims that they have arrived at a compromise on new national minimum wages in his nationwide broadcast to mark Democracy Day.

The organized labour said no agreement was reached on June 07, 2024, by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage.

NLC said two figures such as N250, 000 from labour and N62,000 from government and Organised Private Sector, OPS, were arrived at and have been submitted to the President.

A statement by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, acting President, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, labour explained that anything to the contrary was not only doctored but won’t be accepted by labour.

The statement reads, “The NLC attentively listened to the Democracy Day presidential address delivered by Senator Bola 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.

“We appreciate the President’s commitment to those fine democratic ideals, which allowed the work of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Negotiation Committee to proceed unhindered despite some hiccups.

“However, we had expected Mr President to have used this understanding as one of those who were in the vanguard of the struggle with us around the nation to rescue Nigeria from the hands of the military to harmonise the two figures submitted to him by the Tripartite Committee in favour of workers and masses. It would have been a fitting Democracy Day gift,” he said.

According to him, “The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the Federal Government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components.

“Our demand remains N250,000 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 the Trade Union Congress, 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. We have also not seen a copy of the document submitted to him and will not accept any doctored document.

“However, we want to reaffirm our belief that the President on whose table the Tripartite Committee’s report presently resides would prepare an Executive Bill, which content will reflect the true demand of Nigerian workers.

“We think that this is an opportunity for him to demonstrate his love for Nigerian workers and the masses by shunning the pieces of advice that may be coming from those whose intentions are continuously focused on hurting the poor and struggling workers of Nigeria. Mr President should not allow these individuals and groups to sabotage his promise of lifting Nigerian workers out of poverty,” he said.