The Nigerian government and the organised labour have finally found a common ground
on the implementation of the national minimum wage five months after the minimum
wage Act was enacted.
The new national minimum wage act was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in May,
but the implementation was restricted to officers on Salary Grade level 01 to 06.
The minimum wage of $90 a month could not be extended to senior and management staff
in the federal establishment because of the disagreement over consequential adjustments.
The Minister of State for Labour, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said early on Friday that the
agreement on the full implementation had been signed.
“At about 3am this morning, we signed this Terms of Settlement between government
and Labour,’’ Keyamo said in a tweet.
“The agreement reveals different percentages of adjustments in other wages after the
minimum wage adjustment. Those of the law-enforcement agencies have also been done,
but are not captured in this Memorandum.
“After some delicate negotiations (with both Ministers as conciliators) Government and
Labour have finally reached an agreement on the consequential adjustments of other
Wages, following the implementation of the enhanced minimum wage of N30,000.
We are now working on the communiqué,’’ he added.
He posted the agreement duly signed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the
Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Some states, including Kaduna, had started implementing the new minimum wage.
With this agreement, the planned nationwide strike has been suspended.
MM/GIK/APA