- The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) insists its scheduled protests will hold despite the useful discussion it had with the federal government on Monday, January 7
- Ayuba Wabba, the NLC president, says labour leaders had consulted and agreed to meet with the government on Wednesday, January 9, by 1pm to ensure that the processes for the transmission of the new minimum wage bill be completed without further delay
- Wabba notes that the planned protest is about the implementation of the bill, saying it has no link with the transmission of the bill to the National Assembly
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has said it will go ahead with a scheduled mass nationwide protest on Tuesday, January 8, over the delay by the federal government to implement the new national minimum wage bill.
Ayuba Wabba, the NLC president, made the disclosure at the end of a closed door meeting with Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and employment on Monday, January 7, in Abuja.
The labour leader said the organised labour had a useful discussion with the federal government but insisted that that its scheduled protest will be held.
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He said that labour leaders had consulted and agreed to meet with the government on Tuesday, January 8, by 1pm to ensure that the processes for the transmission of the bill would be completed without further delay.
“We will surely go ahead with the mass protest nationwide on Tuesday.
“The protest is about implementation, it has no link with the transmission. We are trying to see how the bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly.
“The protest is about how to get all parties committed to the issue of minimum wage, it is different from how we get this bill transmitted with timeline to the national assembly,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting which started about 9.05 pm ended at 11. 56p.m on Monday, January 7.
Meanwhile, the federal government said the meeting with the organised labour to prevent the threat of national industrial action over non transmission of the new national minimum wage bill to the National Assembly will reconvene by 1pm on Wednesday, January 9.
Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, said this when speaking with newsmen at the end of a closed door meeting with organised labour on Monday, January 7, in Abuja.
The News The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NLC had threatened to embark on a nationwide protest on January 8, if the Federal Government fails to transmit the bill on minimum wage to the National Assembly.
The organised labour gave the threat following President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that a “high powered technical committee” would be set up to device ways to ensure that minimum wage implementation did not lead to an increase in the level of borrowing.
Ngige said: "We have made progress and Wednesday, we will know the definite date when the bill will be transmitted to the National Assembly."
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“It has been difficult to arrive at a date because there are processes to follow on the bill.
“We have to go to the Federal Executive Council with a council memo on the bill after that, we will go to the National Economic Council and the Council of State.
“But for the Council of State, the President has to look at his own time table and we will inform past Heads of State and Justice of the Federation. This can take two weeks.
“However, we are trying to see if we can accommodate all these meetings by next week because we cannot do Council of State meeting again this week.
“Immediately after that meeting (Council of State), we will transmit the bill."
In a related report, the federal government has reached an agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) thereby raising the possibility of the end of the ongoing strike.
Premium Times reports that Biodun Ogunyemi who is the national president of ASUU spoke after the meeting with the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, on Monday, January 7.
He said the National Executive Committee of the union will review the new commitment of the federal government.
He said the National Executive Committee of the union will review the new commitment of the federal government.
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