There is hope in sight for Nigerian workers as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will next week to unveil wage awards to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal in the country.
There has been some representation in some quarters that what the President is about to announce is new minimum wage.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, during an appearance on ChannelsTV’s “Politics Today” programme informed of plan by the president to announce new wages for workers.
TUC had given the federal government a two-week ultimatum to address its demands or risk industrial action from workers across the country.
Osifo noted that the minister of labour, Simon Lalong, told them he had met with President Tinubu and the minister of finance, Wale Edun.
Osifo said Lalong told the union that the issue of wage had been reviewed adding that President Tinubu would speak on the matter in the coming days.
“The minister of labour told us that he had an audience with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of finance and had reviewed the issue of wage award. But the president asked them to fine-tune the issues before he makes the announcement,” the TUC president said.
“The minister told us all these issues would be streamlined but because the president has travelled we should give him an extra two weeks. We said no; we don’t have an extra two weeks to give. After more discussions, he said the president would make a proper announcement next week.”
Osifo noted that the union had engaged the federal government on the palliatives released to states.
“We are going to monitor distribution of palliatives in states to make sure the scheme is implemented appropriately. We want to see the template of the implementation which is why we engaged the federal government on this issue. We also raised issues around taxation and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas),” the TUC president added.
Reacting to the story of new minimum wage during a telephone interview with Financialtrust.com.ng, National President of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCN), Comrade Tommy Okon, said what the president is going to announce is wage award.
According to him, “There is no discussion yet about new minimum wage. Minimum wage is a constitutional issue and it is reviewed every five years. The current minimum wage will be reviewed by next year.
“What the President has decided to do is to award wages to workers to reduce the impact of the fuel subsidy removal. It is in the same class as palliative.”
He said minimum wage is not a one man show, but an agreement between the government, employers and employees.
The current minimum wage is N30,000 and the organised labour unions including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are demanding over 200 percent increment.