We’ve reached agreement on minimum wage –Keyamo, Labour

The federal government and organised labour on Thursday finally agreed on the percentage increase on the consequential adjustment in workers’ salaries as a result of the new minimum wage of N30,000.

As the meeting reached an advanced stage, Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labour and employment, tweeted from the venue that both parties had reached an agreement, but he did not give details.

The tweet read, “After some delicate negotiations (with both ministers as conciliators), the government and labour have finally reached an agreement on the consequential adjustment of other wages following the implementation of the enhanced minimum wage of N30,000. We are working on the communiqué.”

In a statement, Quadri, the president of the Trade Union Congress, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, and the secretary general, confirmed the peace pact, commending the federal government and labour for their patience while the National Minimum Wage negotiations lasted.

The statement read, “We commend the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, and her team for their sincerity. Though they argued that the government could not afford to meet our earlier demand of N30,000 minimum wage across board because of the economic situation in the country, we made them understand that some people could not be more Nigerian than others. If we are tightening our belts, government should also do so.”

The secretary of the JNCSNC, Alade Lawal, also confirmed the figure to our correspondent through a text message after confirmation on what was agreed with the FG was sought from him.

Lawal had earlier told our correspondent that the parties had reached an agreement on the wage crisis.

He said both parties agreed on 23.2 percentage increase for workers at grade level 07; 20 per cent for those at grade level 08; 19 per cent for workers at grade level 09; 16 per cent for those on levels 10 to 14; and 14 per cent for workers at grade levels 15 to 17.

The meeting was still going on as of the time of filing this report (12.56am) on Friday.