Minimum wage failure at the implementation level (Nigeria)

Organised labour  met with the Federal Government on Friday in Abuja over the implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage.

It was unfortunate that no decision was taken on a new wage structure.

It was learnt that the Federal Government and Labour Congress agreed  to  wait for  President Muhammadu Buhari’s position  on the issue.

The  proposal from the FG is 10 per cent salary increase for workers on grade level 07 to 14 and 5.5 per cent for workers on grade level 15 to 17.  But  labour is demanding  29 per cent for workers on grade level 07 to 14 and 24 per cent for  those  on grade level 15 to 17.

The two sides had resolved at the last meeting that the position of labour and that of the representatives of the government  be sent to President Buhari.

In their meeting on Friday, government representatives told the meeting that they had a challenge which was very technical.

They said the  technical committee must first report the decisions (positions of the two parties) to the plenary, that is the main negotiating committee before taking it to their principal. To us, this was in order.

The main committee assigned the job to the technical committee so it is in order that the report be taken to the main committee. We agreed that the report should be sent to the plenary which also met same day.

After that it was agreed that the report be sent to President Buhari with the hope that a realistic government position will come up. Those at the committee said their mandate did not go beyond taking the report and presenting it to their principal.