For Nigerian employees, there is some hope as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has chosen the next week to announce a new minimum wage for the nation.
On Tuesday, September 19, 2023, Comrade Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said this during a guest appearance on ChannelsTV’s “Politics Today” show.
The TUC had given the federal government a two-week deadline to respond to its requests or risk nationwide strikes by employees.
Osifo said that Simon Lalong, the minister of labor, had informed them that he had met with Wale Edun, the minister of finance, and President Tinubu.
President Tinubu would comment on the subject in the future, according to Osifo, who said that Lalong informed the union that the issue of wage had been studied.
“The minister of labour told us that he had an audience with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of finance and had reviewed the issue of wage award. But the president asked them to fine-tune the issues before he makes the announcement,” the TUC president said.
“The minister told us all these issues would be streamlined but because the president has travelled we should give him an extra two weeks. We said no; we don’t have an extra two weeks to give. After more discussions, he said the president would make proper announcement next week.”
Osifo noted that the union had engaged the federal government on the palliatives released to states.
“We are going to monitor distribution of palliatives in states to make sure the scheme is implemented appropriately. We want to see the template of the implementation which is why we engaged the federal government on this issue. We also raised issues around taxation and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas),” the TUC president added.
The current minimum wage is N30,000 and the organised labour unions including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are demanding over 200 percent increment.
