The new N70,000 minimum wage adopted by the Federal Government after consultation with the Organised Labour on Thursday will be reviewed after three years.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, said this while addressing State House correspondents.
He disclosed this after the meeting between the representatives of the Federal Government led President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Organised Labour.
The Minister said President Tinubu agreed that the national minimum wage review would no longer be every five years.
Mr Idris also said President Tinubu would perfect the proposal of the new minimum wage in a bill to be forwarded to the National Assembly next week.
“We’re happy to announce today that both the Federal Government and Organised Labour have agreed on an increase on the N62,000.
“The new national minimum wage that we expect to be submitted to the National Assembly for legislation is N70,000.
“But that is not all, Mr President has assured of massive Investment infrastructure. There is also a deepening Investment of the Federal Government in renewable energy”, he said.
Mr Idris said to complement the new minimum wage, the Federal Government would ramp up the rollout of Compressed National Gas-powered buses in order to check the high cost of transportation.
He said that efforts were also being made to improve the economy and reduce inflation, including the recent directive on the supervision of duty on certain food imports to bring down the prices of food items.
Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour, said that the issue of minimum wage was not that of the law and who was right, or who will blink first.
“He said that he is our father, like he has always said. That, first and foremost, the review of this minimum wage policy has to be reduced to three years, that five years is too long a time to get any minimum wage review.
“And of course, the labour should look at the indices of the economy and accept N70,000, minimum wage”, she said.
Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said that the Labour Unions agreed to the new minimum wage, shifting ground from their original N250,000 proposal.
“The amount of N70,000 happens to be where we are now. But the good thing about it is that will not wait for another five years to come for review.
“Rather than settling in a figure that we wait for five years, It is like we’ll have now negotiate even two times within five years, with a view to going up.
“That is one of the reasons we decided to reach where we are today. Because of the proviso that we can review in the next three years” he said.
9News Nigeria reports that the N70,000 minimum wage is about 133 percent increase over the old minimum wage of N30,000, which came into effect in 2019.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had met with Organised Labour over the new minimum wage last week where he declared that Nigerian workers deserved improve welfare, better wages, as well as safe and enhanced working conditions.
The President also said he was concerned about the welfare of Nigerian workers and that his administration was working on wage that will be accepted to all.
-9News Nigeria.
