Tripartite Committee Submits Minimum Wage Report to Federal Government

The Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage submitted its report to the federal government on Monday. This was confirmed by Segun Imohiosen, Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), via a statement released in Abuja.

The specific amount recommended for the new minimum wage remains undisclosed.

President Bola Tinubu had inaugurated the 37-member committee, led by Bukar Aji, on January 30, 2024, as mandated by the Minimum Wage Act of 2019. The committee’s primary task was to propose a new national minimum wage for workers in both the public and private sectors.

SGF George Akume, who received the committee’s report, indicated that it would be forwarded to the President shortly. He noted, “A formal presentation of the report will be made to Mr. President for appropriate action when the leadership of the organized labour, as well as representatives of government and the organized private sector, return from the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.”

During the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on Friday in Abuja, labour representatives reduced their minimum wage demand from N494,000 to N250,000, while the federal government raised its offer from N60,000 to N62,000. Government officials have stated that this revised figure will be presented to President Tinubu for further consideration.

Earlier reports from SK Blog highlighted that the organized labour had threatened to reconvene and possibly resume their suspended strike if the federal government and National Assembly did not meet their demands on the proposed minimum wage by midnight on Tuesday.

Chris Onyeka, Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), emphasized this stance during an appearance on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ show on Monday. He stated, “The federal government and the National Assembly have the call now. Our demand is clear: the government must review it, send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and enact a National Minimum Wage Act that meets our expectations.”

Onyeka further warned, “If our demand is not met, the one-week notice we issued will expire tomorrow. If we do not receive a tangible response by then, the organs of organized labour will meet to decide our next steps.”

Nigerian workers, represented by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), had temporarily suspended their strike to allow for negotiations with the government, setting a one-week deadline for the resolution of their minimum wage demands.