Tobias Sylvester
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the N27,000 new national minimum wage that was approved by the National Council of States during its meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the Federal Government is topping the approved amount by N3,000 to 30,000 for its workers.
He said the states are at liberty to augment the new agreement as they see fit.
The amount approved by the Council of State is N3,000 short of the N30,000 that the Tripartite Committee on Review of National Minimum Wage recommended.
Following the approval of N27,000 as the new minimum wage, The NLC Secretary-General, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson said that the council has no jurisdiction determining another amount after a Tripartite Committee had submitted its report. He said
“It is abysmal of government to be delaying the submission of an Executive Bill to the National Assembly and by wrongfully adopting N27,000 through the council of states.”
However, Ozo-Eson said the NLC has scheduled an emergency National Executive Council meeting for Friday to weigh on the deadline given to government within which to submit an executive bill to the National Assembly.
The NLC scribe added that the Federal Government was only projecting a shutdown of the economy with its latest action. He said:
“This is because workers should not be held responsible for any development after its NEC meeting on Friday.’’
