Afrigather The Federal Authorities has declared the organised labour’s demand for a nationwide minimal wage of N494,000 as economically unsustainable, warning it may destabilise the economic system and negatively influence over 200 million Nigerians.
The Minister of Data and Nationwide Orientation, Mohammed Idris, acknowledged this throughout a information convention in Abuja.
In an announcement signed by his media aide Rabiu Ibrahim on Saturday, Idris emphasised that the proposed minimal wage would lead to an annual expenditure of N9.5 trillion, a burden he described as untenable for the nation’s funds.
In keeping with Idris, the federal government’s present supply is an N60,000 minimal wage, representing a 100 per cent improve from the 2019 price, which has been accepted by the organised personal sector concerned within the wage negotiations.
“The Federal Authorities’s new minimal wage proposal quantities to a 100 per cent improve on the prevailing minimal wage in 2019. Labour, nonetheless, wished N494,000, which might improve by 1,547 per cent on the prevailing wage.
“The sum of N494,000 nationwide minimal wage which Labour is in search of would cumulatively quantity to the sum N9.5 trillion invoice to the Federal Authorities of Nigeria,” Idris mentioned.
He careworn the potential financial fallout, together with large job losses, significantly within the personal sector, if the labour demand was met.
“Nigerians want to grasp that whereas the FG is desirous of ample remuneration for Nigerian employees, what’s most important is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not going to encourage any motion that might result in large job loss, particularly within the personal sector, who might not have the ability to pay the wage demanded by the organised labour,” Idris acknowledged.
The Minister identified that whereas labour was advocating for increased wages for roughly 1.2 million employees, the federal government’s precedence was the welfare of your entire inhabitants, guided by rules of affordability and sustainability.
Idris known as on organised labour to return to the negotiating desk to agree on extra cheap and reasonable wages.
He reiterated the Tinubu administration’s dedication to employees’ welfare, noting that the present wage award of N35,000 for federal employees will proceed till a brand new nationwide minimal wage is established.
On Friday, the Nigeria Labour Congress declared a nationwide indefinite strike beginning at midnight on Sunday, June 2, 2024, as a result of federal authorities’s refusal to extend the proposed minimal wage above N60,000.
The President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, introduced the strike following failed negotiations between the federal government and arranged labour.
Regardless of the federal government’s ultimate supply of N60,000, which included a current improve from an preliminary N57,000, the labour unions discovered the proposal inadequate.
On the assembly, labour revised its demand, decreasing it by N3,000 from the preliminary N497,000 proposed final week, setting the brand new proposal at N494,000.
Regardless of this concession, the negotiations remained deadlocked as the federal government maintained its supply of N60,000, resulting in the declaration of a nationwide indefinite strike.
