President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to meet with leaders from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Abuja on Thursday to further discuss the implementation of a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers. This meeting comes about a month after the President, in his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, indicated that an executive bill on the new minimum wage would soon be presented to the National Assembly.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), chaired by Tinubu, previously deferred the discussion on the new minimum wage on June 25 to allow for more stakeholder engagement. According to a top labour source speaking to Channels Television, the meeting will take place at Aso Villa, where President Tinubu is expected to consider the ₦62,000 proposal from the government and private sector and the ₦250,000 demand from Organized Labour.
Trade Union Congress President Festus Osifo has reiterated that negotiations for a new national minimum wage are ongoing and far from dead. He emphasized that the Federal Government continues to engage with relevant stakeholders, including the Nigerian Governors Forum, local government administrators, the organized private sector, and labour unions.
Osifo reaffirmed the unions’ stance on their ₦250,000 minimum wage demand, a key recommendation from the Presidential Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage. He pointed out that the existing minimum wage of ₦30,000 took two years to negotiate, but noted that significant progress has been made since the current negotiations began in January 2024.
