Federal Government on Tuesday assured Nigerian workers of its resolve to conclude work on the new minimum wage and transmit it to the National Assembly for necessary legislative action.
Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment gave the assurance during an agreement signing ceremony with the leaders of the Organised labour in Abuja.
Present at the meeting are: Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning; Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC); Boiboi Kaigama, President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), among others.
Ngige who reiterated the need to consult with relevant organs of government on the new minimum wage recommendations, opined that all the processes should have been concluded by Wednesday, 23rd January, 2019.
“As for the transmission of the executive bill to the National Assembly, the government will religiously implement all the processes that will enable us transmit this bill within the stipulated time.
“We have a target time of January 23, 2018 and we hope that all things being equal, government will be able to do so.
“We will take all statutory meetings of the Federal Executive Council, National Economic Council and the National Council of State meetings to enable us transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage.
“I thank the labour unions for their understanding and appeal to them that the threats should come down. Protests are no longer necessary,” Ngige noted.
In his remarks, Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) who spoke on behalf of the three labour centres, urged government to respect the terms of the agreement
“We thank the role of the Minister of Labour and Employment to get this process to where it is. We have made a lot of sacrifice and commitment spending three days on meetings on this issue.
“We have finally been able to reach a clear understanding on the processes and timeline for this bill to be transmitted. We are committed to the process and hope that the timeline will be respected.
“We will put this across to our organs and give them all the details contained in the Memorandum of understanding.
“You will recall that our demand is for the bill to be transmitted to National Assembly. We want a firm commitment so that we don’t come round a cycle.
“We want the agreement to be documented and signed by government representatives. With that, we can follow up on the process hoping.
“This thing has been on the table for more than two years and having submitted the report, we expect that the bill should have been submitted.
“The National Assembly will be back on January 16 from their recess, so on or before January 23, the bill must have been transmitted.
“We know that the National Assembly are desirous of making sure that workers in Nigeria have decent wage, they will also be able to do the needful.
“We will shift our lobby to the Nation Assembly because once the bill is enacted, the money will be in the pocket of the workers.
“Issues of industrial relations are always addressed at the round table. We have been diligent in the whole process and workers have been patient, clearly we have carried them along, that is why whenever we want them to be around, they are always around,” the NLC President noted.
