Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment
The Federal Government has described Labour 14-day ultimatum as “a subtle blackmail” to stampede the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage.
Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment stated this at a
news conference on Thursday in Abuja, noting that the ultimatum was
uncalled for.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls the organised labour has
accused the Federal Government of stalling the negotiation by failing to
mention a figure as a new minimum wage for the Nigerian workers.
The organised labour also issued the Federal Government a 14-day
ultimatum, insisting that the Tripartite Committee on the new National
Minimum Wage concluded its work within the stipulated time frame.
According to Ngige, it is not true that the Federal Government is trying to stall negotiations.
“The following facts speak in that direction, if the Federal
Government is not interested why did Mr President inaugurate the
Presidential Committee on the new National Minimum Wage.
“If it is not interested, Mr President would have asked me to
do an inter-ministerial meeting, but Mr President took interest and set
up a presidential committee.
“This Presidential Committee, he monitors it and I also brief him from time to time, both written and verbally.
“As a matter of fact, before the meeting adjourned last week, I
have told the committee that the Economic Management Team could not
hold.
“This is due to the fact that most people in the team travelled with Mr President to China.
“Also if the Federal Government is not interested, why will l
brief the entire tripartite committee and tell them that work is in
progress,” he said.
The minister also noted that he had requested for two weeks from
the committee to enable the Federal Government delegation consult with
state government delegation.
“That means that the meeting can be called at any time, in one
day or within three days which is still stipulated within the month of
September.
“So it is very surprising to know that labour gave ultimatum of
14 days to the Federal Government, this is uncalled for and a subtle
blackmail to the Federal Government.
He also said that the chairperson of Tripartite Committee on the
new National Minimum Wage would lead a delegation on Friday to brief Mr
President on the negotiations so far.
Ngige further assured Nigerians workers that there was no cause for
alarm, adding that Federal Government was working assiduously to ensure
the implementation of the minimum wage, soonest.
“We were unable to fix a figure because of many factors that have occurred.
“For example, the components in review, organised labour finds easy to give a figure.
“They have brought a figure which is N56, 000 and later change it to N65,000 and it is within their ambit to do so.
“The organised private sector also brought a figure, initially
they brought N42, 000, and by last week before the Committee on National
Minimum Wage adjourned they brought their own figure down to N25, 000.
“The organised private sector also took into account the
economic situation in the country, the ability to pay and the ability to
enhance and create new jobs in the country.
“So it is important for us to look at all those things because
one of the cardinal principles of the International Labour Organisation
is the minimum wage fixing, which is the ability to pay.”
He also said that the Federal Government had requested that the
state governors give a tentative figure, noting that they had not yet
been able to make available.
The minister further said that the Federal Government delegation
had written, as a committee, to the state governments and had also
followed it up with visits and is still awaiting their response.
Ngige said that the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had further
requested for time to do more work on what their delegation in the
committee had proposed and requested for an extension of time.
-NAN