All the parties involved in the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers have made fresh proposals following their inability to reach a compromised.
The new deal followed the action of the Governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum rejected the proposed N60,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
In a statement issued on Friday by the Director of Media and Public Affairs for NGF, Halimah Salihu Ahmed, the governors said the proposed minimum wage is too high and not sustainable.
NGF expressed concerns that if the N60,000 minimum wage is adopted, many states would allocate their entire Federal Account Allocation Committee funds to salaries, leaving no resources for development projects.
The NGF, in a statement had said:
“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is in agreement that a new minimum wage is due. The Forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.
However, the Forum urges all parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners. The NGF cautions parties in this important discussion to look beyond just signing a document for the sake of it; any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.
All things considered, the NGF holds that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal is not sustainable and cannot fly. It will simply mean that many states will spend all their FAAC allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes. In fact, a few states will end up borrowing to pay workers every month. We do not think this will be in the collective interest of the country, including workers.
We appeal that all parties involved, especially the labour unions, consider all the socioeconomic variables and settle for an agreement that is sustainable, durable, and fair to all other segments of the society who have legitimate claim to public resources.”
Thereafter, the Federal Government said it has offered organised labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, N62,000 as the new national minimum wage for workers in the country.
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State revealed this while addressing journalists at the end of the meeting of the Tripartite Committee on the negotiation on Friday in Abuja.
Uzodimma, who is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, said: “We are almost there because we are just about to sign the dot and there will be a complete closure.
“Every other thing will follow.
“The committee has worked so hard and the committee has reached an agreement.
“The tripartite committee is made up of three parties: the Government, the Organised Private Sector and the Organised Labour.
“In the wisdom of the committee, it has put together a recommendation that will be forwarded to Mr. President for further action
“The organised private sector and the Federal Government have agreed on N62,000, while the organised labour is asking for N250,000.
“At the end of the day, what is important is that we are talking.
“There is no hostility anymore.
“And the national anxiety is going to be relaxed as soon as this is made public.”
Festus Osifo, the President of TUC, noted that the OPS and Federal Government have recommended N62,000 as the minimum wage.
Osifo added: “But for us, we felt that with the current economic hardship and the difficulty in the land, the sum of N250,000 should be what will be okay for the minimum wage.
“We are going to sign a report and forward this position to Mr. President.
“This committee is to make recommendation to him.
“So we will forward it to him and Mr. President will forward it to the National Assembly.
“We will keep pushing to ensure that we have a wage that stands the test of time in Nigeria.”
Speaking, Goni Aji, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, said the recommendation that they had was as a result of a deep dialogue and consensus reached at the tripartite level.
According yo Aji: “The situation that we are recommending to Mr. President, somehow, is repeating itself because it happened in the 2018 exercise.
“In 2018, it was the other way.
“The organised private sector and the organised labour recommended N30,000 as minimum wage, while the government side recommended N24,000.
“Two figures were recommended to the then President for his consideration and onward transmission to the National Assembly for it to become a law.
“That is exactly where we are.”
Aji added that the mandate of the tripartite committee is to recommend, saying it has no powers to approve.
The State Governors, operating on the platform of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, have recommended N57,000 minimum wage.
They, however, said that each state should be allowed to negotiate with its workers on what they could afford to pay.