Chris Ngige speaking during an event
Speaking during a meeting with officials of the Organisation of
Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA) in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said on Monday that the President
Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government was carefully studying demands
by organised labour for a new minimum wage pegged at N56,000 for
Nigerian workers.
The position of the government is the first official statement in
line with the proposal for a new minimum wage spearheaded by the
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The Labour Minister who hinted that the federal government was considering the demands painstakingly, said: "The
demand by labour for the review of the minimum wage is a legitimate
request which the federal government is carefully studying and
appropriately responding to.
"The other day, the labour requested for increased wages for
workers and they have only done what they are supposed to do. Therefore,
nobody will quarrel with them. At the appropriate time, we shall all
sit down because what the labour is asking for is the re-negotiation of
an existing Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA).
"Every CBA based on an agreement is subject to re-negotiation at any given time that any of the partners requests for it," the minister said.
"The government has put machinery in motion as we speak because
I have got a letter as the Minister of Labour and Employment for my
advice.
"We shall advise the government the way such a tripartite
negotiation will be handled so that everybody will be satisfied without
any industrial unrest. Government in this sense includes also the state
and local governments whom such wages will be binding on. When
government takes a decision, we will now move to another stage in the
process of re-negotiation of the CBA," the minister added.
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