…Says Q1 GDP figures encouraging, indicate interventions working
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), yesterday, approved the constitution of a 29-member tripartite committee to resolve the dispute over a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The existing minimum wage is N18,000, but the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are demanding N56,000 as new minimum wage.
Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, who briefed the press after the FEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, said that decision to constitute the wage negotiation team followed deliberations on the report of a technical committee on the matter.
Ngige said the issue needed to be thrashed out by all stakeholders particularly as employers, under the umbrella of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), have rejected the N56,000 minimum wage proposal.
The tripartite committee will be chaired by a seasoned Nigerian technocrat appointed by government, which will also nominate five of the committee members while six state governors will also be members.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, who briefed on the first quarter Gross Domestic Product (DGP) figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday, said he was encouraged by the development which he also described as an indication that government interventions were working.
“This is the best figures released in four quarters and there is still enough time to make more efforts to stimulate the economy,” he said.
He also disclosed that the 2017 budget officially transmitted to the Presidency last week was still being reviewed and analysed by the different Ministers, adding that thereafter recommendations would be made to the President before it would be signed.
“We found the first quarter GDP performance encouraging, the best we have had in four quarters and it is a sign that we are moving out of recession. We realise that we still have to work very hard and we will continue with the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
“We believe that the interventions we are making and the steps we are taking are in the right direction. The results that were released were for one quarter. There are still three quarters and we have enough time to do better. We will work hard to continue to stimulate the economy to meet our target,” he said.
He added that the government was particularly encouraged by the manufacturing sector that grew at 1.36 per cent.
On the budget, Udoma said, “when the budget is approved, we first analyse it, review it and then make our recommendations to the President. We are working hard, we are still in the analysing process and getting input from the Ministers.”
Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of the Interior, Abdurahman Danbazzau, said Osinbajo directed that a proposal for decongestion and expansion of prisons as well as establishment of six ‘half-way houses’ across the country be presented to the National Economic Council (NEC) for more input.
He noted that some of the prisons in the country were 100 years old, adding that deplorable prison conditions are worsened by the fact that 70 per cent of inmates are awaiting trial, for as long as 11 years, while five per cent of the remaining 30 per cent are on death row.