Minimum wage: Committee adjourns meeting for minister to meet deadline

Minimum wage: Committee adjourns meeting for minister to meet deadline

The Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage adjourned its meeting on Wednesday to allow the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to meet the 48-hour deadline for presenting the cost implications of the proposed wage increase.

A source close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, told The Nation that the committee, comprising representatives of the Federal Government, organised labour, and the private sector, discussed general matters details of which were not disclosed.

The meeting was adjourned on Wednesday, to give Edun the necessary time to compile and present the proposed wage increase’s cost implications, as President Bola Tinubu directed on Tuesday.

The source stated that the committee is expected to reconvene once the minister has presented the cost implications, which will inform the negotiations on the new minimum wage.

“The meeting was adjourned to give time to the Minister of Finance to meet the 48 hours dateline given to him to present cost implications to him.

“We just discussed general things. We decided to give him time to carry out the directive of the President,” the source said.

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In April, the organised Labour demanded N615,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country but the Federal Government and the organised private sector had offered ₦60,000.

The organised labour, however, rejected the offer and urged the federal government to raise the wage.

last week labour pegged the new proposal at N494,000.

The union declared a nationwide indefinite strike over the Federal Government’s refusal to raise the proposed minimum wage from N60,000 as the federal government could not meet its demand.

Following the strike declaration, President Bola Tinubu directed Edun to present the cost implications for a new minimum wage within two days.

Negotiations are expected to continue today, with the committee working on new figures that might have been presented to the President by the Finance Minister.