THE Trade Union Congress, TUC, said that labour is pushing sufficiently to ensure that a new minimum wage takes effect from April 2024.
President of the TUC, Comrade Festus Osifo disclosed this in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja.
Comrade Osifo said that if the Tripartite Committee on the review of the Minimum Wage is unable to meet up with the assignment before the expiration of the lifespan of the current minimum wage of N30,000, labour will impress on government to backdate the implementation.
Fielding questions from Vanguard on the level of negotiations amongst the relevant stakeholders, Osifo, who is a member of the committee said that different subcommittees are working in accordance with the timetable.
He said, “We were inaugurated if you remember, I think the last day of January or thereabout so after the inauguration, we have met once and during the meeting, a roadmap was set and subcommittees were dished out.
“So as at today, we have several sub committees we have broken it into those subcommittees and the timetable has also been rolled out and I think there will also be a visitation to the different geopolitical zones, so we’re going to visit different geopolitical zones to look at the issues as they appear today and take comments from people on the street so that it will not just be a monologue.
“It won’t just be… committee. sitting down and fixing what they think will be the best minimum wage without also hearing from the people. So like a town hall meeting will be held, I think first week of March across the six geopolitical zones, where we will interface with the Nigerian workers, the Nigerian masses. public workers, as well as private workers.
“Then after, we will now come back assemble all these, with the view of coming to a conclusion.”
Reminded that the lifespan of the present minimum wage is supposed to expire in few weeks time and asked whether the committee will meet up with the deadline, he said: “Yes, we are pushing sufficiently towards that. If you remember, the minimum wage committee was not inaugurated on time. But now that we have started work, we are pushing sufficiently towards that, but at worst case that it overshoot that particular period a bit, government on its own, I will also encourage them that they will backdate the implementation.
“So let’s assume we conclude in May for example, then government will come back for two months. That is not too difficult thing to ask for.”
