Organized labour has expressed hope that the processes for the implementation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers including the National Assembly process and the assent by President Bola Tinubu, would have been completed before the end of July.
The president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, stated this when he received the Special Adviser on Labour Matter from the Kogi State Governor, Onuh Edoka, and his delegation in Abuja.
According to him, there is a need for the National Tripartite Negotiation Committee to urgently conclude all processes so that the new minimum wage bill can receive attention from the President and the lawmakers.
Osifo noted that the implementation of a new minimum wage would lift the burden of economic challenges many Nigerian workers are going through amidst the worsening inflation and rising cost of living in the country.
He said: “What we are working on from both labour centres is that before the end of July, we should have a new minimum wage that must have passed through the processes and that must have been assented to by the President so that the plight of the workers will improve much more.
So that the economic challenges that we are facing as a country will be improved upon so that an average worker will be able to go to market and buy one or two things to take care of his or her family because of this skyrocketing inflation that we have in our country.
We will resolve and have a common front so that the President will be able to send the bill to the National Assembly, and at the end of the day, we will have a new national minimum wage. This is key; this is a topic that is germane for all labour unions today in Nigeria.”
Osifo called on state governments to start making plans for the payment of the new minimum wage so they can be ready once its signed into law.
“We are not at this moment even dwelling on the N30,000 again. I was listening to a state, I think Nasarawa State, that said they started setting aside some money to meet the new obligations when the new minimum wage is passed. So, I wish to also appeal that in Kogi, let that be the top priority amid this scarcity of income, amid this scarcity of revenue
I wish to also use this opportunity to speak to all other states that they should be putting plans in place to implement the new minimum wage because, in Labour today, we are totally ready because when the new Minimum Wage Act is passed, we are going to follow it state by state to ensure that it is implemented.
Let the workers heave a sigh of relief and we have the trust and the belief that, with the high Labour representation in the Kogi State government, we believe that the Kogi State government will do the needful,’’ the TUC President said.
Earlier, the Special Adviser on Labour Matter to the Kogi State Governor, Onuh Edoka, said the administration of Governor Ahmed Ododo has corrected the shortcomings of the immediate past administration, especially workers’ welfare.
