THE governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, has stated that the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage is close to reaching an agreement on a new national minimum wage.
He revealed this after emerging from the committee’s meeting today, which lasted more than 12 hours.
“We had a very fruitful deliberation, and as you know, this is a technical subcommittee of a committee.”
“And at the committee level, we have reached close to consensus, and by the time we get to the plenary, we will have a complete agreement, and perhaps the media can begin their work. “I believe we are better off now than we were before,” Uzodimma stated.
According to him, the committee has just completed its numerous unit meetings and has now moved on to the plenary, where they are anticipated to harmonise their decisions and, hopefully, arrive at a figure.
Recall that organised Labour rejected the N60,000 proposal and went on strike statewide on Monday.
The protest was, however, suspended on Tuesday when the Federal Government vowed to raise the minimum wage to more than N60,000 as negotiations resumed.
The fifth meeting since organised Labour’s suspension of strike action is being held behind closed doors at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja.
The Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the Minister of Labour and Employment (State) Nkiruka Onyejeocha, the Governor of Imo State Hope Uzodimma, a representative of the Salaries, Income, and Wages Commission, the Minister of Finance Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and National Planning Atiku Bagudu are among the committee members present.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which is made up of 36 state governors, has stated that the Federal Government’s proposed N60,000 minimum salary is unsustainable and cannot fly.
The Forum’s Acting Director of Media Affairs and Public Relations, Halima Ahmed, stated that if allowed to fly, several states will utilize all of their monthly federation account allocations to pay workers’ salaries.
The governors urged the tripartite committee members to reach an agreement on a minimum wage that is both fair and sustainable.
