The National Council of State has endorsed N27,000 as new National Minimum Wage.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Council’s meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister revealed that the bill on the new minimum wage of N27,ooo would be transmitted to the National Assembly in the next 24 hours for passage into law.
Recall that the organised labour is insisting on N30, 000, which it negotiated with Tripartite Committee, while the governors proposed N24, 500.
According to Ngige, the N27,000 is the benchmark for all employers of labour with more than 25 workers on their payroll, emphasising that no employer of labour with more 25 workers should pay less than the proposed N27,000.
The minister, however, stated that the Federal Government had resolved to pay its workers N30,000 as the new national minimum while the state governments are free to negotiate with their respective staff.
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In attendance at Tuesday’s Council of State meeting, which lasted for about three hours, were: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Abdulsalami Abubakar and the former Head of the Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.
Others, were three former Chief Justices of Nigeria, namely; Muhammadu Uwais, Alfa Belgore.
