There are indications that President Bola Tinubu may announce the new minimum wage on May 1 in commemoration of the International Labour Day and backdate its implementation to April.
A member of the National Minimum Wage Committee, who spoke to news men on condition of anonymity, said the minimum wage committee will meet again next week
The source said the National Minimum Wage Committee is working to ensure that all negotiations regarding the new rate were finalised before then with the expectation that the President would announce the new minimum wage in his Workers’ Day address.
Meanwhile Organised Labour has warned state governors that it will not accept anything less than full implementation whenever the new minimum wage becomes law as it is ready to go into battle with such governors.
Labour’s position is coming at a time when the governors are asking the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider each state’s peculiarities in arriving at an acceptable figure, even as the panel is compiling the reports of its public hearing in the different zones.
The two labour centres in the country – the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress – are unanimous in rejecting the governors’ position, warning that it is a recipe for prolonged industrial unrest.
In January, the Federal Government inaugurated the tripartite committee responsible for deliberating on the national minimum wage.
Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the 37-member panel at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
Comprising representatives of the federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the committee’s mandate is to propose a revised national minimum wage for the nation.
During zonal public hearings in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja, workers in the North-West requested N485,000; North-East, N560,000; North-Central, N709,000 (NLC) and N447,000 (TUC); South-West, N794,000; South-South, N850,000; and South-East, N540,000 by the NLC and N447,000 by the TUC.
However, the Adamawa and Bauchi state governments suggested N45,000 as the new minimum wage.
New Minimum Wage: President Tinubu May Announce New Salary Regime On May 1st
