In view of the processes involved, the bill on the national minimum wage will be transmitted to the National Assembly, NASS, for approval on January 23, the Federal Government has asserted.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, made this known on Tuesday after a meeting with the leadership of labour unions.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and others had vowed to commence a nationwide strike on Tuesday to ensure that the bill is passed to the National Assembly and implementation carried out.
But speaking on the crisis, Ngige said a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the leadership of Nigerian workers.
He said the government would try as much as possible to make the agreement work.
He also expressed government’s gratitude for the understanding shown by the leaders of the unions.
“We have a target time of January 23, and we hope that all things being equal, the executive will be able to do so.
“We will take on the statutory meetings of the Federal Executive Council, National Economic Council and the National Council of States to enable us to transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage,” he said.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, who also spoke on the outcome of the meeting said the agreement reached, it was concluded, should be signed by both parties.
“We believe with this, we can actually start following up the process; we have asked them to keep faith with the timeline, so that it will be concluded, as the minimum wage issue has been on the table for the past two years.
“We also thought that after having submitted the report and also drafted a draft the bill, by now, we expected that it should have been submitted.
“We will shift our lobby to the NASS because once the bill is enacted, the money will be in the pockets of the workers.”
He added that the issue of industrial relations also also addressed at the roundtable.
“We are committed to the process and hope that the timeline will be respected.
“We will put this across to our organs and give them all the details contained in the memorandum of understanding,” he added.
