The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has stepped down from deliberation on the new minimum wage memo to allow President Tinubu to engage in further consultations with key stakeholders.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this on Tuesday while briefing State House correspondents about the council’s decisions. He explained that the President has reviewed the report submitted by the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage and will conduct additional consultations before submitting a final proposal to the National Assembly.
“I want to inform Nigerians that the Federal Executive Council deliberated on the report of the Tripartite Committee on the new national minimum wage,” Idris said. “The decision is that because the new national minimum wage involves not just the Federal Government, but also state and local governments, the organized private sector, and organized labour, the memo was stepped down. This will enable Mr. President to consult further, especially with state governors and the organized private sector, before making a presentation to the National Assembly.”
Discussions regarding a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers have been ongoing for some time. The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which set the minimum wage at ₦30,000, expired in April 2024 and should be reviewed every five years to reflect current economic demands.
In January, President Bola Tinubu established a Tripartite Committee to negotiate a new minimum wage for workers. This committee includes representatives from organized labour, federal and state governments, and the organized private sector.
Despite these efforts, the committee members failed to agree on a realistic new minimum wage, prompting labour unions to declare an indefinite strike on Monday, June 3, 2024. This strike disrupted businesses, shutting down airports, hospitals, the national grid, banks, the National Assembly, and state assembly complexes.
Labour unions argued that the existing ₦30,000 minimum wage is insufficient given current economic conditions, including inflation and the effects of petrol subsidy removal and forex unification policies. Following assurances from the President, labour “relaxed” its strike on June 4, 2024, after he committed to a wage above ₦60,000.
Negotiations resumed, but on June 7, 2024, both sides failed to reach an agreement again. Labour reduced its demand from ₦494,000 to ₦250,000, while the government increased its offer from ₦60,000 to ₦62,000.
Both sides have submitted their reports to the President, who is expected to make a decision and forward an executive bill to the National Assembly. In his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, President Tinubu assured organized labour that an executive bill on the new national minimum wage would soon be sent to the National Assembly.
The President is now expected to decide between the government’s and private sector’s ₦62,000 proposal and the organized labour’s ₦250,000 demand.
