By Adedapo Adesanya
There are strong indications that last week’s industrial strike that shut down the national grid, businesses, and schools over minimum wage negotiations may resume as the grace period to allow for talks near expiration.
Mr Chris Onyeka, an Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, speaking on Channels Television on Monday, said should the federal government and National Assembly fail to act on the demands of workers by Tuesday, the organs of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) will meet to decide on the resumption of the nationwide industrial action relaxed last week.
The labour unions claimed that the current N30,000 minimum wage was insufficient to support the well-being of the typical Nigerian worker and that the government should provide workers with a more competitive amount in light of the country’s current inflationary pressures, the consequences of removing petrol subsidies and the unification of the forex windows.
The strike was only halted when the President Bola Tinubu-led government assured the angry workers it wouldn’t go lower than N60,000 in the negotiations after a deadlock over the N494,000 request made by organised labour.
According to Mr Onyeka, “It is not our call. Our demand is there for them (the government) to look at and send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and for the National Assembly to look at what we have demanded, the various facts of the law, and then come up with a National Minimum Act that meets our demands.
“If that does not meet our demand, we have given the federal government a one-week notice to look at the issues and that one week expires tomorrow (Tuesday). If after tomorrow, we have not seen any tangible response from the government, the organs of the Organised Labour will meet to decide on what next.”
He also dismissed the N62,000 offered by the government or N100,000 proposed by economists, insisting that the target was around N250,000.
“We have never considered accepting N62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know can take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage, We have never contemplated N100,000 let alone N62,000.
“We are still at N250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation.
“We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the marketplace; realities of things we buy every day; a bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that,” he said.
