Baring last minute changes, President Bola Tinubu will announce a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers next week.
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, disclosed this while speaking on the outcome of the union’s Tuesday meeting with the federal government on the fuel subsidy removal.
Voice Air Media recalls that the TUC had given the federal government a two-week ultimatum to address its demands or risk industrial action from workers across the country.
Speaking on ChannelsTV’s Politics Today on Tuesday evening, 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 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 that 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.