Minimum wage: Deadlock as Labour, FG fail to reach agreement

The meeting between Labour leaders and representatives of the federal government has ended in deadlock with both sides proposing different figures as minimum wage for workers.

Ama Pepple, Chairman of the tripartite committee set up by the federal government to come up with a new minimum wage for workers and former head of service of the federation, told reporters that after almost seven hours of the meeting, the committee resolved to submit the N24, 000 proposed by the federal government and N30,000 insisted by labour unions, for consideration.

She said the committee is waiting for government’s decision on the report, disclosing that the meeting would reconvene by 10pm.

She said the committee appealed to labour leaders not to go on strike and they have agreed to consult their members.

Chris Ngige, minister of labour, said the two figures will be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Asked what would become of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum proposal of N22, 500, Ngige said the governors will go with the federal government’s figure.

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was the first to leave the venue of the meeting, with the promise to return.

Next to leave was Atiku Bagudu, governor or Kebbi state, who avoided speaking with reporters.

Representatives of labour unions walked out of the venue of the meeting around 8pm and promised that they will be back at 10pm.

Meanwhile, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday rejected a request for a fresh order stopping the organised labour from embarking on its planned indefinite strike on Tuesday.

The court presided over by Justice Sanusi Kado also refused to grant a prayer for an order to compel the government to immediately commence the process of adopting N30,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Justice Kado said it would be unnecessary to make another order stopping labour from embarking on the planned strike having earlier made a similar one in a case brought to the court by the Federal Government last Friday.

The lingering dispute between government and the labour prompted the Federal Government to seek and obtain the court order stopping the strike last Friday.

But the fresh ex parte application seeking to stop labour from embarking on the strike and to also compel government to commence the process of paying the N30,000 minimum wage was filed by a civil society group, Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International.

The group’s lawyer, Mr. Okere Nnamdi, at the Monday’s proceedings, informed the court that he had filed his client’s ex parte motion alongside other processes on November 1.

He urged the court to grant the prayers, including the one seeking an order of substituted service of the court processes on the governors joined as the 10th to the 45th defendants in the suit.