“We Can’t Pay N70,000 Minimum Wage”: Organised Private Sector Tells Tinubu, Gives Reason
- On Thursday, organised labour and President Tinubu agreed on N70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers
- Joe Ajaero-led NLC explained that the union accepted the minimum wage because of other incentives attached to it which included the review of the minimum wage every three years rather than five years
- In a swift reaction to the development, the organised private sector lamented and noted that they could not afford to pay their workers N70,000
Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements
The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has warned that members cannot pay the N70,000 national minimum wage announced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's led federal government without support.
Source: Facebook
OPS spokesperson and director general of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, made this statement while reacting to President Tinubu’s approval of N70,000 as the new national minimum wage.
How Tinubu arrived at N70,000 minimum wage
Recall that on Thursday, President Tinubu noted that his government can only pay Nigerian workers N70,000 as the minimum wage. This is after meeting with labour leaders at the Presidential Villa.
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This came weeks after FG offered N62,000 but the Joe Ajaero-led NLC insisted that labour would not accept any offer from Tinubu that is less than N250,000 as the new minimum wage.
Joe Ajaero, the president of the NLC, commended President Tinubu for his willingness to engage in dialogue and find a mutually beneficial solution.
He explained that the union accepted the minimum wage because of other incentives attached to it.
70K minimum wage: Organised Private Sector cries out
But reacting to the development, the OPS has appealed to the president to come to their rescue, Vanguard reported.
OPS spokesperson, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said:
“While we commend the President for putting to rest the immediate issue of the National Minimum Wage, we also note, most importantly his commitment to support the sub-nationals and the Organized Private Sector to pay the new wage.”
NLC threatens nationwide strike
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Joe Ajaero's led NLC expressed concern over the unpaid salaries of some of its member unions in the education sector.
The labour union vowed to embark on a nationwide strike if the four months' salaries withheld by the government were not paid to members of its sister union, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
This is after the police stopped the SSANU and its sister union, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, from embarking on a nationwide protest.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng
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Source: Legit.ng
