Talks by Tripartite Committee on a new National Minimum Wage have run into a stalemate, after the Federal Government insisted it cannot pay more than N25,000 per month, The Precision can report.
It was however revealed that Labour and Organised Private Sector, OPS, have agreed on a N30,000 minimum wage per month.
This is even as President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, told newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, that the Tripartite Committee had completed its assignment for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was gathered that when the tripartite committee resumed sitting last week Thursday, the Federal Government shocked other social partners with its presentation of N21,700.
The Federal Government’s failure to present its figure at previous meetings and subsequent adjournment without a resumption date led to a nationwide industrial action by Labour between September 27 and 28, before it was suspended on Sunday, September 30.
Speaking after the NLC picketed two private firms in Abuja, Wabba said the committee used two days to reconvene and deliberate on a new minimum wage figure that was acceptable to all employers of labour in the country.
He said: “I want to assure workers that all had been concluded and will be passed for signing within the week.
“I also want to appreciate Organised Private Sector, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, for their resolve to pay the new minimum wage when it is signed into law.”
The NLC president, however, refused to disclose the figure arrived at by the Tripartite Committee on the new National Minimum Wage.
Wabba said the Presidency would make it public after deliberation by the National Economic Council.