NEW MINIMUM WAGE: FG COMMITTEE REVEALS NEXT PLAN
NEW
MINIMUM WAGE: FG COMMITTEE REVEALS NEXT PLAN
The Federal Government Tripartite Committee on the new
National Minimum Wage has revealed that there will be public hearings across
the country.
The purpose of the public hearing would be to gather inputs
from stakeholders on a new minimum wage.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said this while
briefing newsmen at the end of the Central Working Committee meeting on
Wednesday, in Abuja.
Wabba pointed out that the zonal hearing was expected to be
conducted in the six geopolitical zones, including Lagos and Abuja beginning
from April 23, 2018.
The public hearing is to consider memorandum from organised
Labour, governors and employers of Labour.
The organised Labour had recently presented a new demand of
over N66,500 to the Federal Government.
Wabba, who confirmed the upward review of the demand of organised Labour,
however, did not state the new figure presented to the tripartite committee for
consideration.
According to him, he will not be drawn to mentioning figures
because it is not relevant at the moment, as the organised Labour is
considering the current realities in the country.
“As certain variables and current inflation in the country
have made us to make an upward review of the demand.
“The new submission from Labour is not different from the
initial submission. We made a demand almost two years ago and that demand was
the beginning of the process.
“So, the demand of Labour was based on the agreement we had on the five year
circle which we believe was due and also considering the level of inflation, we
made a demand of N56,000,” he said.
He said that the committee after its constitution by Mr
President, requested state governors, employers, private sector and organised
Labour to resubmit their memoranda for discussion to the commence.
The NLC President said that in furtherance to the request,
states, Federal Government, NECA and Labour had submitted their memos.
“But what we did was to look at the dynamics of the times
because the discussion will be evidence-based.
“So, we undertook a study and made a submission. This is the
logic and not that we have submitted a new position.
“It was the same memo that we submitted, but what we did was
to look at the indices, because a lot has changed between 2015 and 2018.
“So that cannot be regarded as a change of position because
the process of arriving at a minimum wage in line with convention 121 is
evidence based.
“Everybody submitting memo or document will have to back it
up with logic and not just quote figures from the air,’’ he added.
He, however, said that all variables needed to be looked at
for discussions on the new minimum wage had been considered.
“Clearly, what I want to inform you about is that we are
committed to what we have,’’ Wabba said.
He added that the next Tripartite Committee meeting would be
held on April 17, to discuss procedures for the public hearing.
