Stories By micheal oche, Abuja

After several months of delay and foot dragging, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige last Thursday disclosed that he had cleared nominations into the committee that would come up with a new minimum wage for workers with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The news is coming at a time, workers are increasing becoming agitated with what they feel is government deliberate ploy to delay the passage of a new minimum wage.

It would be recalled that following the decision of the federal government to remove fuel subsidy last year and increase pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N87 to N145, the organised labour under the NLC and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), negotiated among other palliatives, N56,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Ngige after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting said, “I have cleared the appointments with the President today (Thursday) and as soon as the labour people come back from the Labour Governing Board meeting in Geneva, we will take a consensus date with the governors because it is a tripartite committee involving federal, states and the private sector: NECA, MAN, NACCIMA, SMEs.
“The NLC, TUC and their affiliates have done their nominations. What we are now trying to fine-tune is the date for inauguration.”

President Muhammadu Buhari early this year was reported to have given a go-ahead order for a 29-man committee of the government and organised labour to negotiate a new national minimum wage for workers. Ngige was quoted to have assured in March this year that the government and labour unions met to finalise the report of an earlier constituted technical committee.

According to him, the next stage was to constitute the minimum wage review committee which will work with the report of the technical committee.

However after several months of delay, the federal government t and organized labour are now ready to commence negotiation on the much debated minimum wage following the approval given by President Buhari on nomination from government side. It is now a matter of when.
The workers had in various fora expressed frustration that despite the mouthed plans by the Federal Government to ease their suffering occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal, nothing seems to be moving and no concrete action has been taken to address the dire situation.

Prior to the 2009 minimum wage increment demand, in February 2009, leaders of Congress recalled that the demand for upward review of workers’ wage in modern day started in 1945, noting that between 1945 when workers staged the famous 45 days general strike for a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25% general wage through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidation Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15% by Obasanjo, workers had struggled at 15 times to have wages improved and a national minimum wage legislated upon.

In March 2011, a couple of days to the April 2011 general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan signed the new Minimum Wage Act into law. The law saw an increase of the national minimum wage from N7, 500 to N18, 000.

That was perhaps one of the most memorable moments for workers under that jonathan administration, which was also bedeviled with various strike action and the famous anti-subsidy protest in 2012.

However, the road to that signing was not easy. The workers’ long journey to the N18,000 minimum wage, which the Senate passed into law on Tuesday, February 22, started long before the late President Musa Yar’Adua, on July 14, 2009, through the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, inaugurated a tripartite Presidential Committee on National Minimum Wage, headed by Chief Justice Alfa Modibbo Belgore.

Interestingly, six years after that last Minimum wage Act was signed into law, labour and government are back to a familiar turf.

It would be recalled that before government and labor arrived at the N18, 000 in 2011, the NLC had in December 2008, after a report of an internal committee it set up look to work out appropriate minimum wage, publicly demanded for N52,200 minimum wage for workers.

However, the question now is, how much labour and government will agree on as a new wage. It would be recalled that since the last agreed minimum wage in 2011, state governors have been kicking against it and have on several occasions threatened to retrench workers if government will not review the revenue sharing formula to enable state and local government to earn more.

In November 2015, chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State while addressing the press after their meeting said that the N18,000 national minimum wage promulgated into law in 2011 was no longer sustainable because of the fall in the price of crude oil. The governor also claimed that the nation-al minimum wage was ‘imposed’
The NLC, TUC are demanding N56,000 as the new national minimum wage at a time most state governors are struggling to pay their workers the current N18, 000 are owe a backlog of salaries and pension arrears.

http://leadership.ng/2017/11/09/fg-labour-begin-negotiations-new-minimum-wage/

Let's hope this works cos this present administration get strong head o

increasing minimum wage is never a bad idea, some countries are cutting salaries and creating more shift in order to recruit more staffs in their civil service. ie creating jobs for the teeming youths. don't get me wrong, I don't say Nigeria should slash salaries, but how many States are paying salaries with this same minimum wage in due time?
if they should increase the minimum wage what is the fate of these states?
what we should we should be clamouring for should be job creation.
the alarming rate of youths both graduates roaming the streets, going from one bet shop to another is absurd.
the crime rate is also increasing.

This govt just like making noise over something others did without noise

Minimum wage that took Jonathan just few months after 2011 election to implement, this man is setting up committee upon committee

How can you be setting up a committee to screen another committee that will implement common minimum wage of workers?

Oga ooo

okay good, press harder!!!

No hope

okay...



Meanwhile guys check out my profile for your extender products and other adult toys

THE RESULT OF THIS MEETING, WILL BE REVEALED BY APRIL 2019 JUST BEFORE THE ELECTION SO AS TO DECEIVED HARDCORE ZOMBIES.

validman7:
increasing minimum wage is never a bad idea, some countries are cutting salaries and creating more shift in order to recruit more staffs in their civil service. ie creating jobs for the teeming youths. don't get me wrong, I don't say Nigeria should slash salaries, but how many States are paying salaries with this same minimum wage in due time?
if they should increase the minimum wage what is the fate of these states?
what we should we should be clamouring for should be job creation.
the alarming rate of youths both graduates roaming the streets, going from one bet shop to another is absurd.
the crime rate is also plummeting.

Firstly check whether you really meant to say plummeting.
Increasing minimum wage without REDUCING the wages of political office holders is a WASTE of efforts and will result in the negative issues you pointed out.
The NLC, TUC and the citizens in general, especially unemployed youths should push for a SLASH in the wages paid to politicians.


www.nairaland.com/attachments/2943664_wage_jpeg1488711c5349aed5f79f2e121e58b278


www.nairaland.com/attachments/2529977_nass_jpeg20217b4f045ab12789674b258da46f96

I will be getting a pay rise, how nice

any amount less than 56k as submitted by labor will be unacceptable.

Election is close and they want workers vote

ican2020:
Election is close and they want workers vote

sylviaeo:
THE RESULT OF THIS MEETING, WILL BE REVEALED BY APRIL 2019 JUST BEFORE THE ELECTION SO AS TO DECEIVED HARDCORE ZOMBIES.

You sabi them
All Poverty Congress, APC zombies are very easy to deceive


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3251622_image_jpeg_jpeg6f95b5e7a24ad4fc0808d6698fd37362

I hope it yields positive outcome... By now I expected total reduction in the pump price of the petrol, kerosene and diesel... May God help us all in this Nation.

Who are they deceiving? This minimum wage issue will be dragged for long and only implemented few months (possibly January 2019) before Election month to score political points

tfelicityk:
I hope it yields positive outcome... By now I expected total reduction in the pump price of the petrol, kerosene and diesel... May God help us all in this Nation.

Shall we ask Fash_Ole why that has not happened


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3115090_seunoloketuyi1223747310596353674000681876567738n_jpegf23910bd963a3dbb9d74ad4621bdda8b



www.nairaland.com/attachments/3807303_fbimg1463139535826_jpeg9ca7d41d7976908bfaf5e4d62c1ee160

anonimi:




You sabi them
All Poverty Congress, APC zombies are very easy to deceive


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3251622_image_jpeg_jpeg6f95b5e7a24ad4fc0808d6698fd37362

thank u for dat picture. I was looking for one to send a message

Pls do so I can increase the prizes of my agricultural produce as well. To all the workers they are doing u guys more harm than good.

NigerDeltan:


This govt just like making noise over something others did without noise

Minimum wage that took Jonathan just few months after 2011 election to implement, this man is setting up committee upon committee

How can you be setting up a committee to screen another committee that will implement common minimum wage of workers?

Oga ooo

Which worker Jonathan increased their salary? Pls tell me, I ve been a federal government worker for 15 good years.

Killurself:
Which worker Jonathan increased their salary? Pls tell me, I ve been a federal government worker for 15 good years.

You entered from the backdoor

One thing I have come to know is that; more money does not solve the problem, it only creates more avenues to swallow your money up.

ok
check my signature

45k ain't bad

Check my signature to order your football jerseys and get it customized FREE OF CHARGE

Another wahala for Benue workers and pensioners ahead.

NigerDeltan:

You entered from the backdoor

well, it can be only your state

NigerDeltan:


This govt just like making noise over something others did without noise

Minimum wage that took Jonathan just few months after 2011 election to implement, this man is setting up committee upon committee

How can you be setting up a committee to screen another committee that will implement common minimum wage of workers?

Oga ooo

Buhari is a name that is synonymous with deception, fraud, theft and corruption.
I just pity the zombies.

They should hurry up about it. I have 31 years left to put in. A review will be highly interesting

I support minimum wage increase only for the lowest cadre staff! Staff of NNPC, CBN, NPA, NCC and all these other agencies and parastatals that already pay decent salaries should not get ANY increase.

Also, a lot of staff should be sacked/retired, and what would have been used to pay them used to increase the salaries of the lowest cadre of staff in order to ensure that the FG wage bill does not increase in-spite of increase in minimum wage. However, all those to be sacked should be paid their gratuity/severance IMMEDIATELY!!

I would rather have a motivated and delivery focused staff strength of 25,000 who are paid well enough to live decently, pay school fees, buy an average car etc, than a staff strength of 100,000 who are mostly poorly paid, and have to beg visitors and customers for money and frustrate them to the point of dropping bribe and who refuse to use their intellect to work.

This is just a way to deceive people into voting in APC when most of the present APC governors refused giving workers there salary.