The tripartite committee meeting on the new minimum wage ended Monday night in stalemate, failing to agree on a figure as organized labour insisted on N30,000 while government is still in speculative mood on whether to raise the bar from N24,000, a figure initially declared by the federal government.
Although labour claimed it had extracted a firm commitment from the government to pay the N30, 000 it demanded, The New Diplomat gathered both labour and government officials could not give the figure that was arrived at, saying President Muhammadu Buhari would announce the new figure when he receives the committee’s report.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and United Labour Congress (ULC) have suspended the planned nationwide strike.
“Agreements have been reached and documents have been signed. Organized labour will want to use this medium to thank all the tripartite partners for their understanding. Organized labour also decided that the proposed strike action is hereby suspended and we hope that this will be communicated appropriately without any dilution”, said Ayuba Wabba at the end of the tripartite meeting Monday night.
The industrial action was scheduled to commence 12am on Tuesday.
Wabba, however, refused to disclose the exact figure agreed by the committee.
He noted that the amount would only be made public after presentation of the report to President Muhammadu Buhari later in day at 4:15pm.
Chairman of the Tripartite Committee, Ama Pepple, expressed her excitement that their assignment had been concluded.
“I am happy to report to you that we have concluded our assignment and we will submit our report to the President by 4.15pm on Tuesday.
“We will reveal the figure at the presentation,” she assured.
Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, also said a mutual agreement on the new minimum wage would be made public after a meeting with the president.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, hailed the resolution of the matter by all parties involved.
He added that overriding interest of Nigerians prevailed at the meeting.
