Members of the organized labour, including both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have scheduled an emergency meeting in response to the Federal Executive Council’s decision to step down the memo on the minimum wage.
A top official at the NLC headquarters confirmed that the meeting will take place at Labour House at 10:00 AM on Wednesday. The primary agenda is to discuss the Federal Executive Council’s decision to defer the memo on the minimum wage.
Earlier reports by Daily Trust indicated that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated that all 39 items on the meeting’s agenda were addressed, except the memo on the minimum wage. Idris explained that the Tripartite Committee, which includes representatives from local government, states, NLC/TUC, and the federal government, had submitted its report, and a memo was prepared accordingly.
However, the Council could not make a decision on the memo because it involves multiple stakeholders: local governments, states, the Federal Government, the Organized Private Sector, and labour unions. Therefore, the memo was stepped down to allow President Bola Tinubu to conduct thorough consultations before making a final submission to the National Assembly.
A NLC official, speaking to Daily Trust on Tuesday night, mentioned that the entire leadership of the two labour centres would meet to take a unanimous position before being consulted by the President.
“Even though we already have a position, we will meet tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to fine-tune our stance before the consultation. It is important for us,” the official stated anonymously, as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Earlier this month, members of the organized labour had paralyzed economic activities across the country with an indefinite strike that lasted two days, aimed at pressing home their demands for a new minimum wage.