At last, the Federal Government and organised labour unions have come to an agreement on when the executive bill on the new Minimum Wage by the Federal Government will be transmitted to the National Assembly.
After a series of meetings, both parties on Tuesday settled for Jan. 23, as the transmission date.
The Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Nigige, who led the government delegation and also presided over the meeting held at his ministry, told newsmen that the FG would send the bill to NASS on January 23, 2018, after members of the National Assembly must have resumed from their recess.
The agreement is coming on a day when labour staged a nationwide protest against the delay in transmitting the bill to NASS.
In unison, labour leaders on Tuesday insisted that Nigerian workers would not participate in the 2019 elections if the new national minimum wage of N30, 000 was not implemented.
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Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Ngige assured that necessary processes for the transmission of the bill will be concluded next week to ensure there was no further delay.
The minister said, “As for the transmission of the executive bill to the National Assembly, the government will religiously implement all the processes that will enable us to transmit this bill within the stipulated time.
“We have a target time of January 23, 2018, and we hope that all things being equal, the government will be able to do so. We will take all statutory meetings of the Federal Executive Council, National Economic Council and the National Council of State meetings to enable us transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage. I thank the labour unions for their understanding and appeal to them that the threats should come down. Protests are no longer necessary.”
Speaking, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, thanked the minister for his role in the issue, even as he noted that workers had been patient with government for more than two years.
He argued that after the submission of the report by the tripartite committee that negotiated the minimum wage two months ago, it was expected that govt. would have gone beyond the present stage of making effort to transmit a bill to NASS.
In his own comments, president of Trade Union Congress, KaigamaBobboi, warned that if the FG reneged on the Jan. 23 date to transmit the bill to NASS, labour would take action without any warning.
