FG Considering N56,000 Minimum Wage Demanded by NLC - Presidency Reveals

Posted by Odinaka on Tue 10th May, 2016 - tori.ng

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige has revealed that the Federal Government is carefully studying and considering the N56,000 minimum wage that was proposed by the Nigeria Labour Congress last month.

Chris Ngige speaking during an event

Speaking during a meeting with officials of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said on Monday that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government was carefully studying demands by organised labour for a new minimum wage pegged at N56,000 for Nigerian workers.

The position of the government is the first official statement in line with the proposal for a new minimum wage spearheaded by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The Labour Minister who hinted that the federal government was considering the demands painstakingly, said: "The demand by labour for the review of the minimum wage is a legitimate request which the federal government is carefully studying and appropriately responding to.

"The other day, the labour requested for increased wages for workers and they have only done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, nobody will quarrel with them. At the appropriate time, we shall all sit down because what the labour is asking for is the re-negotiation of an existing Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA).

"Every CBA based on an agreement is subject to re-negotiation at any given time that any of the partners requests for it," the minister said.

"The government has put machinery in motion as we speak because I have got a letter as the Minister of Labour and Employment for my advice.

"We shall advise the government the way such a tripartite negotiation will be handled so that everybody will be satisfied without any industrial unrest. Government in this sense includes also the state and local governments whom such wages will be binding on. When government takes a decision, we will now move to another stage in the process of re-negotiation of the CBA," the minister added.