Indications emerged, yesterday, in Geneva, Switzerland, of a looming showdown between organised labour and the Federal Government over the September deadline for the commencement of the new minimum wage.
While organised labour, as represented by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, insisted that September deadline was sacrosanct, the Federal Government said it was not realizable.
Addressing the 107th Session of the International Labour Conference, ILC, in Geneva, President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said the ongoing process on the new wage must be concluded and implementation begins in September as earlier agreed.
Defending this position while speaking to journalists at the conference, Wabba said: “I have told you that at the tripartite committee, we all committed to a timetable and timeline which is known and everybody is aware of it. But speaking to journalists, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, insisted September deadline was not possible, noting that the Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee, working on it would only complete its work on or before September and submit to the government.
He said: “The truth of the matter is that there is a work programme for the minimum wage committee. And by that schedule of work, we are supposed to terminate our own work in that committee first week of September. After you have done that, you will now take your recommendation to government. “After doing that, the executive arm of government will take your recommendation to the Federal Executive Council because it concerns those in states, people in the state will now take it to National Economic Council, which is the council in charge of the economy of Nigeria. Read more<<<<<
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