FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MEETING WITH LABOUR LEADERS ON MINIMUM WAGE INCONCLUSIVE
His words,”we are still discussing and will continue on Monday. We need to make further consultations before the issues are concluded’, while source informed that the meeting, which started at 12:50 p.m., went on recess at 3:20 p.m. and reconvened 4:28 p.m.
Penpushing gathered that, the meeting went on break because President Buhari summoned Chris Ngige (Minister of Labour), Zainab Ahmed(Minister of Finance), and Udoma Udoma,(Minister of Budget) for an emergency meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
It is recalled that, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has been at loggerheads with the Federal Government over a new minimum wage, while the planned protest by the labour unions is to demand that President Muhammadu Buhari submit a bill to the parliament for the implementation of N30,000 minimum wage for workers. .
Penpushing recalled that, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other labour unions demand that the national minimum wage be increased to N30, 000 from the current N18, 000, but President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to commit to the new proposal.
The President, Instead, said last year that he would set up a technical committee to review the N30, 000 proposed by a tripartite committee earlier set up by the federal government, while the State governments have also said they would not be able to pay the N30, 000 minimum wage.
Penpushing further reports that, the Labour Minister, Chris Ngige, who led the government delegation, in his reaction to the development, said the government has made progress with the workers.
