President Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, to present the budgetary impact of a new minimum wage within two days.
Tinubu gave the directive at a closed-door meeting with the government negotiation team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Mohammed Idris, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting with the President.
Idris said the President gave the marching order to the Minister of Finance to present the new minimum wage figures that will form the basis of negotiations with organised labour.
He said: “The President has just summoned a meeting of all those who negotiated on behalf of the federal government, led by the secretary to the government of the federation; the Minister of Finance was there; the Minister of Budget Planning, the Minister of Information; the Minister of Budget and National Planning; the Minister of Labour; and the NNPC Ltd GCEO.
“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.
“And let me say that the president is determined to go with what the committee has said, and he is also looking at the welfare of Nigerians.
“Government is not against or an opponent of labour discussions. Government is not an opponent of wage increase, but what is there is that government is always there to ensure that there is a balance between what government pronouncement is and what the realities are on ground.
“And therefore, we will work assiduously to ensure that whatever promises government make are promises that will be kept. That is the idea of this meeting.”
The minister pointed out that Tinubu has directed government representatives at the tripartite committee meeting to work together with the organized private sector and the sub-nationals to achieve a new affordable and sustainable wage award for Nigerians.
“The president has given marching orders that all those who have negotiated on behalf of the Federal Government and all those who are representatives of organised private sectors, the subnationals, come together to have a new wage award that is affordable, sustainable, and that is also realistic for Nigerians.
“The wage award is not just that of the Federal Government, like I mentioned earlier; the subnationals are involved, and the organised private sector is involved; it was labour that stepped out during that procedure. Now we have come back to the negotiation table,” he said.
Idris assured Nigerians that all parties to the negotiation of the new minimum wage will work together with organised labour to present a new minimum wage for Nigerians in one week.
“All of us will work together assiduously within the next one week to ensure that we have a new wage for Nigeria that is acceptable, sustainable, and also realistic.”
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