Nigeria’s minister of Labour Nkiruka Onyejeocha says the Federal Government has achieved 90% of its agreement with Organised Labour.
Speaking on a live television programme, Onyejeocha said NLC President, Joe Ajaero, told government representatives at a meeting on Sunday that the protest was not about the government’s commitment to the October agreement but food inflation.
The minister said food security and economic prosperity were part of the priorities of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
She appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the new government as the administration is in its planting season with harvest on the horizon.
Onyejeocha said the Federal Government had ticked about 90% of the 15-point memorandum of understanding it signed with the Organised Labour on October 2, 2023.
Some of the agreement include granting wage award of N35,000 to workers, inauguration of minimum wage committee, and suspension of the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel
Nigeria is battling rising inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, economic hardship and high cost of living occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, attracting protests in parts of the country.
The Presidency had engaged labour leaders in a last-minute talks on Monday night but the meeting ended in a stalemate as the NLC insisted that the protest was going to hold.
Labour later suspended the protest on Tuesday night, after day one of the demonstration, saying the objectives of the two-day protest had been achieved on the first day of the rally.
We Have Met 90% Of Labour Demands — Minister
