Chidi Samuel|
The meeting between the federal government and labour unions ended on Friday with both parties failing to once again reach an agreement.
The meeting was called at the instance of the federal government to avert the planned strike by organised labour scheduled to commence on January 8 over failure by government to implement the N30,000 minimum wage for workers.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, told journalists at the end of the parley that the meeting has been adjourned till 5 p.m. on Monday.
Wabba said, “We have had a social dialogue bothering on the national minimum wage as you are aware and the meeting decided to adjourn and reconvene on Monday for us to do further consultations before the issues are concluded.”
“But we have not been able to conclude and we have agreed to reconvene to tidy the process. The issue at stake is to make sure that the bill is transmitted and also other auxiliary issues that government says they are trying to put together.
He said the rally on January 8 will be determined by Monday’s meeting.
“Those processes which then need to be followed to ensure that a clean bill is transmitted to the National Assembly and what they now termed some physical issues are what we will tidy up on Monday. So, let us wait for that Monday,” he said.
In his reaction, the labour minister, Chris Ngige, who led the government delegation, said the government has made progress with the workers.
”We are still discussing and will continue on Monday. We need to make further consultations before the issues are concluded,” he said.
“So, we are discussing on ways to fast track and we are taking appropriate steps as required by us by law.
“Mr. President is more committed to this as he was the one that set of the Tripartite Committee on the minimum wage and even inaugurated them and also put in all the resources. And so he his ready for it and also received the report too,” he said.
“So, we are now working on the report and the report is in a raw form, it has to milled before transmission,” he said.
“The national minimum wage is an existing act that needs amendment. So, it is not a question of only money, ” he said.
He said the moment the bill gets to the National Assembly, it will become the business of all Nigerians.
“There are things that we need to do before sending the bill to the National Assembly and do it in a way to maintain the sustainable status of the minimum wage. This why we have called you and for you to suggest to us,” he said at the start of the meeting.