Tinubu’s Govt, NLC, TUC Resume Negotiations on New Minimum Wage

• A few hours after labour called off the nationwide strike, it resumed talks with the federal government regarding the new minimum wage
• On Tuesday, the NLC and the TUC suspended their strike for five days and noted that negotiations with the government on the wage for Nigerian workers and electricity tariff hike would continue
• In a new development, a top official of the union noted that if no agreement is reached, they will resume strike next week

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), its Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, and the federal government have resumed negotiations on the new minimum wage.

Recall that the labour unions suspended their strike for five days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government raised the N60,000 minimum wage offer.

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Why NLC relaxed ongoing strike

A highly placed source, who was privy to the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the organised labour, said the strike was “relaxed” in line with the agreement reached with the government on Monday night, June 3.

Vanguard confirmed this development in its publication on Tuesday afternoon, June 4, and noted that the meeting commenced by 1pm.

Speaking on the development, the source explained that at the meeting with the federal government on the instance of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator George Akume, it was agreed that the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage would be sitting every day to conclude negotiations.

The source said:

“We relaxed the strike in line with the agreement with the Federal Government that we will meet every day.

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“We are going back to negotiation by 1 pm today. We hope that from now till the weekend, we will be able to reach an agreement but if no agreement is reached, we will resume strike next week.’

How much should minimum wage be?

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Daniel Bwala, a public affairs analyst and lawyer, said the minimum wage should be about N250,000.

Bwala, however, said it was not realistic because there was no money to sustain a monthly salary payment.

He added that the proposed N60,000 minimum wage would be insufficient given the country's high inflation rate.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng