President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mr Bobboi Kaigama, announced on Wednesday that a new amount, agreed upon by the Federal Government and Labour, to serve as Nigeria’s new minimum wage would be announced next month.
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Bobboi, who made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, said that the committee working on the minimum wage has almost concluded negotiations on the matter.
The Federal Government had set a September date to roll out a new minimum wage for workers, although the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, was recently reported as “double-speaking’’ on the issue.
Civil servants in Nigeria are eagerly awaiting wage increase after years of enduring a wage structure described by analysts as one of the lowest in the world.
But, public office holders in Africa’s most populous nation, including members of the bi-cameral parliament enjoy some of the biggest wages in the world, according to analysts.
Kaigama said a tripartite committee meeting held in Abuja, yesterday, but refused to elaborate on issues discussed at the meeting.
“The tripartite meeting held yesterday but I do not want to pre-empt the outcome or the level we have reached in our discussions, otherwise there will be unnecessary anxiety.
”But, by the end of August, I am assuring you that workers will know what the agreed new minimum wage will be, ” he said.
On November 22, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a 30-member committee to work out a new minimum wage.
He inaugurated the committee on November 27 of the same year.
Buhari was, subsequently, hailed by workers for listening to their cries for a review of the current N18,000 minimum wage put in place by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
The labour movement, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the TUC had previously demanded N56,000 as new minimum wage.