The organised labour has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s N25,000 Provisional wage increment for the average low-grade worker to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy.
The workers also the N15 million additional Conditional Cash Transfer for vulnerable households
President Tinubu had in his nationwide broadcast on the occasion of Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary said: “Based on our talks with labour, business and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation. For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional Twenty-Five Thousand naira per month.
“Commencing this month, the social safety net is being extended through the expansion of cash transfer programs to an additional 15 million vulnerable households.”
However, a source in the meeting between organised Labour with the Federal Government team at the Permanent Conference Room, Presidential Villa, Abuja, rejected the N25, 000 provisional wage and demanded the wage to be 100 percent of the current minimum wage.
The workers asked that the temporary salary be paid to all employees and that it should last longer than six months, until the new minimum wage would be approved year.
The organised labour also insisted that the Conditional Cash Transfer for the poorest and vulnerable people should be increased to N25,000 and not the N5000 the previous administration was paying.
After many hours of horse trading, the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is leading the government delegation at the meeting had to break, to go and consult with the President on the new demands.
Gbajabiamila accompanied by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong.