ABUJA As the five-day deadline to conclude negotiations drew near, the Federal Government negotiating team failed to present the Technical Committee on the New National Minimum Wage, or NNMW, with a new offer for the second day in a row following the statewide walkout on Monday.
This is despite the fact that yesterday, George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), claimed that Labour had committed treason by cutting the national grid during the Tuesday-night nationwide strike.
The labor movement is becoming restless, according to Vanguard, since the Federal Government is taking too long to extend its previous offer of N60,000.
Remember that on Tuesday, when announcing the suspension of the nationwide indefinite strike, organized labor—represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC)—said: “The indefinite nationwide strike is, therefore, relaxed for one week from today to allow the Federal Government to commit to a concrete and acceptable national minimum wage.” But the government team hasn’t made a new offer after two days.
“Dashed hopes”
After the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget, Atiku Bagudu, earlier in the day presented a template to the President as previously instructed, expectations were high that the government would present an offer exceeding the initial N60,000 yesterday.
After meeting with President Tinubu yesterday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the two ministers declared, “There is no cause for alarm.”
While Edun did not provide an explanation of the meeting’s agenda, it is possible that it has to do with the President’s marching orders from Tuesday, which required him to provide figures to organized labor.
It was anticipated that during the tripartite committee meeting, which began at approximately five o’clock last evening, the government team would present the new offer, but that did not transpire.
A technical committee was established at the government team’s request, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting who spoke to Vanguard.
The government team did not make any fresh proposals. They asked for topics to be discussed, and a technical committee was formed in response.
