'We expect new minimum wage implementation by July' - TUC

The organised labour movement has expressed hope that the new minimum wage would be announced, passed into law, and implemented before the end of July.

The president of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Festus Osifo, said this when he welcomed the Special Adviser on Labour Matter from the Kogi State Governor, Onuh Edoka, and his delegation in Abuja.

According to Osifo, it was important for the National Tripartite Negotiation Committee to commonly fight for the bill to get immediate attention from President Bola Tinubu as well as the National Assembly and be passed into law.

He said: “What we are working on from both labour centres is that before the end of July, we should have a new minimum wage that must have passed through the processes and that must have been assented to by the President so that the plight of the workers will improve much more.

“So that the economic challenges that we are facing as a country will be improved upon so that an average worker will be able to go to market and buy one or two things to take care of his or her family because of this skyrocketing inflation that we have in our country.

“As you are aware, Labour has submitted N250,000, the government and organised private sector N62,000. Let both parties come together; let all parties come together.

“We will resolve and have a common front so that the President will be able to send the bill to the National Assembly, and at the end of the day, we will have a new national minimum wage. This is key; this is a topic that is germane for all labour unions today in Nigeria.”

Osifo also praised the Kogi state government for the clarification of payment of the N30,000 minimum wage to workers.

“We are not at this moment even dwelling on the N30,000 again. I was listening to a state, I think Nasarawa State, that said they started setting aside some money to meet the new obligations when the new minimum wage is passed. So, I wish to also appeal that in Kogi, let that be the top priority amid this scarcity of income, amid this scarcity of revenue.

“I wish to also use this opportunity to speak to all other states that they should be putting plans in place to implement the new minimum wage because, in Labour today, we are totally ready because when the new Minimum Wage Act is passed, we are going to follow it state by state to ensure that it is implemented.

“Let the workers heave a sigh of relief and we have the trust and the belief that, with the high Labour representation in the Kogi State government, we believe that the Kogi State government will do the needful."