Not a few Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when the federal government and the organised labour entered a truce agreement, leading to the suspension of the indefinite nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, which commenced on Monday.
The NLC and TUC, after its emergency National Executive Council, NEC, meeting on Tuesday, however, said they agreed to suspend their nationwide strike to allow the federal government commit to a concrete and acceptable national minimum wage.
Earlier on Tuesday, the federal government team agreed to raise the N60, 000 minimum wage offer after a meeting with labour.
In a communiqué jointly signed by Comrade Joe Ajaero and Comrade Festus Osifo, Presidents of NLC and TUC respectively, labour said it suspended the nationwide strike in order to give room for negotiation to continue unhindered.
On Monday, labour and its affiliates embarked on a nationwide strike after a breakdown in talks over a new national minimum wage with the tripartite committee set up by the federal government.
According to the communiqué, “The NEC in session resolved that there is a greater need to create the right ambience for negotiation to continue unhindered. The indefinite nationwide strike action is therefore relaxed for One Week from today to allow the Federal Government commit to a concrete and acceptable National Minimum Wage; take definitive steps to reverse the electricity tariff hike back to N66/kwh and abolish the discriminatory classification of electricity consumers into Bands.
“The NLC and TUC National Leadership are mandated to continue to maintain open channels of communication with the Federal Government to negotiate and secure favourable outcomes for Nigerian workers and people.
“All affiliate unions and State Councils are therefore directed to Relax the indefinite nationwide strike and return to their respective workplaces immediately.
“The NEC-in-Session expresses profound gratitude to Nigerian workers and the general public for their unwavering support and solidarity in this critical struggle for improved living and working conditions.
“The NLC and TUC remain committed to pursuing all necessary actions to protect the rights and welfare of all Nigerian people and workers as we urge all to await further directives while the negotiation continues.”
In an apparent demonstration of government’s resolve to honour its agreement with labour, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to submit the cost implications of a new national minimum wage to him within 48 hours.
President Tinubu gave the directive at the State House Tuesday after a meeting with members of the federal government’s negotiation team.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting with the president, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the finance minister was given a Wednesday deadline to provide the figures to guide the government’s negotiation with organised labour.
At the meeting were Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Atiku Bagudu, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, and Group Managing Director NNPCL, Mele Kyari.
The meeting, the minister said, was to find a balance between the government’s pronouncements and the economic realities on the ground. “It’s been quite challenging, but we thank God that we’re at this point. We thank Labour that true to their words last night, they have suspended their strike early this morning.
“Government on its side – you can see that the President has just summoned a meeting of all those who negotiated on behalf of the federal government – led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“The Minister of Finance was there, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, myself the Minister of Labour, the Group Managing Director of the NNPCL.
“We were all there to look at those issues and then the President has directed the Minister of Finance to do the numbers and get back to him between today and tomorrow so that we can have some figures ready for negotiation with Labour.”
Idris further said the president was committed to an acceptable, sustainable and realistic new minimum wage for all Nigerians, involving not just the federal government but also sub-nationals and the organised private sector.
“Let me say that Mr President is determined to go with what the committee has said, he’s also looking at the welfare of Nigerians. Like I said earlier, government is not an opponent of Labour discussions, it’s not an opponent of wage increase, but what is there is that government is desirous of ensuring that there is balance between what its pronouncement is and what realities are on ground, therefore we’ll work assiduously to ensure that whatever we do, whatever promises government makes will be kept. That’s the idea of this meeting.
“The president has given a marching order that all those who have negotiated on behalf of government and those who are representatives of other sectors, the organized private sector and the sub-nationals, come together so that we can have a new wage award that is acceptable, sustainable and also realistic for Nigeria”, he said
And as a corollary to the federal government’s move, the Senate, Tuesday, assured of speedy passage of the minimum wage bill. It, however, frowned on the excesses of some members of both the NLC and TUC while the strike action lasted.
Specifically, they declared that the shutdown of the National Grid and the disruption of Hajj flight by some unionists were more of economic sabotage than agitation for new minimum wage.
Consequently, it declared that such situation would not be allowed to re-occur as laws against it would be reflected in the new National Minimum Wage Act that would be enacted soon after submission of the bill to that effect by the executive.
In as much as the resort to strike action as a mechanism to arm-twist the government to accede to its demands, irrespective of their propriety or otherwise, is deleterious to the nation’s economy, we commend the organised labour for its patriotic gesture in suspending the strike.
It is our conviction that the one week window offered by the agreement is enough time for the tripartite committee to sort out the grey areas in order to arrive at a national minimum wage that will not only be acceptable to all parties and stakeholders but also affordable, feasible, sustainable and less obtrusive to the nation’s economy.
