The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has contradicted claims made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding the outcome of the ongoing national minimum wage negotiations.
In his Democracy Day address, President Tinubu stated that the government had “negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organized labour on a new national minimum wage” and that “we shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.”
However, the NLC has refuted these claims, stating that no such agreement has been reached. Comrade Prince Adewale Adeyanju, the Acting President of the NLC, said “We had expected Mr. President to have used this understanding as one of those who was in the vanguard of the struggle with us around the nation to rescue Nigeria from the hands of the military to harmonize the two figures submitted to him by the Tripartite Committee in favour of workers and masses. It would have been a fitting Democracy Day gift.”
The NLC maintains that their demand for a national minimum wage of N250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand Naira) has not been met, and they have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position, which they consider a “great concession” by Nigerian workers.
Adeyanju further stated that the NLC was “surprised at the submission of Mr. President over a supposed agreement” and believes that the President may have been “misled” into believing that an agreement had been reached. The NLC has not seen the document submitted to the President and will not accept any “doctored document”.
The NLC has also accused the government of intimidating and harassing the trade union leaders during the negotiation process, with series of “media propaganda calculated to intimidate and harass us” and the presence of fully armed soldiers surrounding them while they were in negotiations.
The labour union has called on President Tinubu to demonstrate his “love for Nigerian workers and masses” by shunning the advice of those whose “intentions are continuously focused on hurting the poor and struggling workers of Nigeria” and to ensure that the final minimum wage figure reflects the true demand of Nigerian workers.