• We’re not against Nigerian workers’ welfare, govt affirms and present an affordable, sustainable, and realistic figure within two days.
They said the reprieve was to allow the Federal Government to commit to an acceptable national minimum wage; take definitive steps to reverse the electricity tariff hike back to N65/kWh, and abolish the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into bands. “We were all there to look at all issues, and the President has directed the Minister of Finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have figures ready for negotiation with labour.”
“Government is not an opponent of wage increase. But governors are always there to ensure there is a balance between what the government’s pronouncement is, and the realities on the ground. Therefore, we will work assiduously to ensure that whatever promise the government makes is one that will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.”
Following the suspension of the strike yesterday, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, expressed gratitude to Nigerian workers and the general public for their support in the struggle for improved living conditions. Many governors are pushing for separate negotiations at the state level; dependent on their ability to pay, inflation figures, and prices of food in states.
“The issue of minimum wage is mired in the kind of federation Nigeria runs. Can anyone be taken to court for prosecution on account of non-payment of minimum wage? Yes, as far as the law is concerned. Has any worker dragged his or her employer to court to enforce that? Not to the best of my knowledge.
He said: “There are many state governments that are paying more than the N30,000 wage today because it appears to them that the wage is no longer realistic in their state. What has labour done to encourage such states? Congo, which Nigeria is struggling to displace, currently implements N94,947 as minimum wage while a fellow high-ranking oil-producing nation, Angola, pays a paltry N58,569.
The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools , Lagos State Chapter, says its members did not join the indefinite labour strike because they believe that strike is not the way to get a solution. The President of the chapter, Mr Alaka Yusuf, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos that…