The leadership of organized labour in Nigeria has revealed the reason why they accepted the N70,000 minimum wage approved by president Bola Tinubu on Thursday.
This is coming after about six months of intense agitations and negotiation with the federal government.
Comrade Joe Ajaero, the president of Nigeria Labour Congress speaking to newsmen at the State House after meeting with President Tinubu, cited several incentives attached to the wage increase as key reasons for their acceptance.
Meanwhile, one of the major reasons for the acceptance, according to Ajaero, was Mr Tinubu’s commitment to reviewing the minimum wage every three years, a significant improvement over previous practices.
This proposed N70,000 wage is set to replace the current N30,000 minimum wage, which expired on April 18, 2024, pending approval from the National Assembly.
The Labour leaders expressed their appreciation for President Tinubu’s initiatives and his efforts to address the workers’ needs comprehensively.
However, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, has described the development as a happy moment for the country.
“We’re happy to announce today that both the federal government and organized Labour have agreed on an increase on the N62,000. The new national minimum wage that we expect us to present to submit to the National Assembly for legislation is N70,000.
“But that is not all. There is also a boost like Mr. President has assured in ensuring that massive investment is going to be made in the area of infrastructure. There is also a deepening of the investment of the federal government in renewable energy. More money is going to go into the acquisition of more buses, the CNG buses, Nigeria is going to be more CNG compliant, according to the President.
“We’re moving in this transition to renewable and all other things that Mr. President has assured Labour the issue of sun and SSANU and NASU is also going to be looked at. And we are happy, we are very thankful of the role that the organized labour has played today. They recognized the federal government’s role in ensuring that we have the local government autonomy, and also ensuring that both the organized Labour and the government are on the same page today.
“They have seen the magnanimity of the President and today the leadership of Laborur said they didn’t come here for negotiation. Not at all, they came here in that deep sense of patriotism to ensure that Nigeria remains united, Nigeria becomes more prosperous and it is in that spirit, that they are in agreement with what the federal government has done today.
“We want to thank level for their patriotism. We also want to thank Mr Presiden, the federal Government, the sub-nationals and organize private sector for going through this painstaking effort but also ensuring that at the end of the day Nigeria is the winner for it all.”