Home / News / Politic / Politics / The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday, said the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers would begin in April this year and that the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage would meet on March 27 and 28, 2024 to submit and deliberate on its zonal reports. It was also gathered that the current N30,000 minimum wage expires this month, while the new one would take off from next month. This came as state governors warned against unrealistic demands from Labour and urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider the capacities of states to pay the new minimum wage during the meeting on March 27 and 28, 2024. But Labour insisted that the governors were unwilling to pay workers despite receiving bailouts, for instance, during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. They stressed that the payment of salaries was not charity, as workers work hard to earn their salaries. READ ALSO: Budget Padding: Your Integrity Intact, Tinubu Assures Senators Speaking on the March 27 and 28 meeting, the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said, “The zonal committees are submitting the reports of the public hearings on March 27, 2024. “You know that after the public hearings, all that we have are the several zonal reports, so we will now bring them together to work on them before reaching agreements.” He explained that the zonal committees would submit their reports to the Minimum Wage Committee “when we reconvene on March 27 and 28 with the reports from our various zones. “From there we can now look at the various reports, deliberate on them, and do further consultations.” Asked whether the implementation of the new minimum wage would start on April 20 as speculated in some quarters, Ajaero replied, “They don’t pay salaries on the 20th. The effective date for implementation is April. So if we finish (deliberations), they pay, but if we don’t finish, then they will pay arrears for that month.” The Federal Government in January this year announced its plan to implement a new minimum wage to reflect the current economic realities. The current national minimum wage is N30,000, which the labour unions have argued that it is no longer realistic, given the galloping inflation in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu, in his New Year broadcast, said his administration was committed to implementing a new minimum wage to give Nigerian workers an improved welfare. The government subsequently set up a tripartite committee on January 30, 2024, to determine a new minimum wage. The 37-man committee is chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji. The committee had the terms of reference to ‘consult all stakeholders on the issue of national minimum wage and recommend a realistic and practical national minimum wage to the government.’ In furtherance of the assignment, a zonal public hearing was held simultaneously on March 7, 2024 in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja. The NLC and the TUC in different states proposed various figures as a living wage, referencing the current economic crunch and the high costs of living. In their different proposals on the minimum wage, the NLC asked the South-West states to pay N794,000 as the TUC mentioned N447,000. At the North-Central zone hearing in Abuja, the workers demanded N709,000 as the new national minimum wage, while at the South-South, N850,000 minimum wage was demanded. In the North-West, N485,000 was proposed, while the South-East stakeholders demanded N540,000 minimum wage. When approached on Thursday to provide updates on the tripartite committee’s activities, another official with the NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority to speak on the matter, confirmed the position of the NLC president. The source said, “There will be a meeting of the National Minimum Wage Committee on the 27th and 28th of this month inside the Villa and we expect that those reports will be submitted and acted upon. Other discussions will be furthered during the meetings and we hope that issues around the figures will receive greater attention. “The implementation of the new minimum wage can only commence after it has been passed into law and we expect that the entire process which includes passage into law by the National Assembly would have been completed, at least by April 19, which is the day the existing new minimum wage would have expired. So that the new minimum wage will take off by the next day, being 20th of April, 2024.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday, said the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers would begin in April this year and that the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage would meet on March 27 and 28, 2024 to submit and deliberate on its zonal reports. It was also gathered that the current N30,000 minimum wage expires this month, while the new one would take off from next month. This came as state governors warned against unrealistic demands from Labour and urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider the capacities of states to pay the new minimum wage during the meeting on March 27 and 28, 2024. But Labour insisted that the governors were unwilling to pay workers despite receiving bailouts, for instance, during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. They stressed that the payment of salaries was not charity, as workers work hard to earn their salaries. READ ALSO: Budget Padding: Your Integrity Intact, Tinubu Assures Senators Speaking on the March 27 and 28 meeting, the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said, “The zonal committees are submitting the reports of the public hearings on March 27, 2024. “You know that after the public hearings, all that we have are the several zonal reports, so we will now bring them together to work on them before reaching agreements.” He explained that the zonal committees would submit their reports to the Minimum Wage Committee “when we reconvene on March 27 and 28 with the reports from our various zones. “From there we can now look at the various reports, deliberate on them, and do further consultations.” Asked whether the implementation of the new minimum wage would start on April 20 as speculated in some quarters, Ajaero replied, “They don’t pay salaries on the 20th. The effective date for implementation is April. So if we finish (deliberations), they pay, but if we don’t finish, then they will pay arrears for that month.” The Federal Government in January this year announced its plan to implement a new minimum wage to reflect the current economic realities. The current national minimum wage is N30,000, which the labour unions have argued that it is no longer realistic, given the galloping inflation in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu, in his New Year broadcast, said his administration was committed to implementing a new minimum wage to give Nigerian workers an improved welfare. The government subsequently set up a tripartite committee on January 30, 2024, to determine a new minimum wage. The 37-man committee is chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji. The committee had the terms of reference to ‘consult all stakeholders on the issue of national minimum wage and recommend a realistic and practical national minimum wage to the government.’ In furtherance of the assignment, a zonal public hearing was held simultaneously on March 7, 2024 in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja. The NLC and the TUC in different states proposed various figures as a living wage, referencing the current economic crunch and the high costs of living. In their different proposals on the minimum wage, the NLC asked the South-West states to pay N794,000 as the TUC mentioned N447,000. At the North-Central zone hearing in Abuja, the workers demanded N709,000 as the new national minimum wage, while at the South-South, N850,000 minimum wage was demanded. In the North-West, N485,000 was proposed, while the South-East stakeholders demanded N540,000 minimum wage. When approached on Thursday to provide updates on the tripartite committee’s activities, another official with the NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority to speak on the matter, confirmed the position of the NLC president. The source said, “There will be a meeting of the National Minimum Wage Committee on the 27th and 28th of this month inside the Villa and we expect that those reports will be submitted and acted upon. Other discussions will be furthered during the meetings and we hope that issues around the figures will receive greater attention. “The implementation of the new minimum wage can only commence after it has been passed into law and we expect that the entire process which includes passage into law by the National Assembly would have been completed, at least by April 19, which is the day the existing new minimum wage would have expired. So that the new minimum wage will take off by the next day, being 20th of April, 2024.”

March 22, 2024 News, Politic, Politics

Despite recent charges of budget padding, President Bola Tinubu assured the leadership of the 10th Senate on Thursday that the National Assembly’s integrity is unaffected.

He said his administration will always encourage cooperation between the executive and judiciary for the advancement of the nation.

Tinubu said this when he hosted the leadership of the Senate to a dinner on Thursday to break the Ramadan fast at the State House, Abuja.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement released in the early hours of Friday titled ‘President Tinubu: We will not allow anyone to undermine our security; killers of soldiers in Delta State will face certain justice.’

Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central, PDP) had alleged that the Tinubu-led government is implementing a budget other than the one approved on January 1, 2024.

Ningi, who chaired the Northern Senators’ Forum and Senate Committee on Population, had contended in a BBC Hausa Service interview that a N25tn budget was debated and passed, not the N28.7tn that is currently being implemented.

He maintained that N3.7tn could not be accounted for in the 2024 budget.

However, at plenary on March 12, the Senate suspended Senator Ningi for three months over this claim.

Reacting to the allegations for the first time in public, Tinubu said, “I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back.

“I appreciate all of you for the expeditious handling of the budget. Thank you very much.

“Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; they did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought. But your integrity is intact.”

Tinubu thanked the lawmakers, adding that Nigerians are at the “turning corner” of the economic challenges.

“The natural challenge we are facing will be over. On the current economic difficulty, we are about turning the corner.

“Our revenue has improved. All we have to do is to control expenditures and manage ourselves better.

“Light is at the end of the tunnel, and Nigerians will soon smile again,” the President affirmed.

Tinubu also thanked members of the National Assembly for the speedy attention given to the Student Loan Amendment Bill, urging more tolerance, forgiveness, and charity during Ramadan.

He said the perpetrators of the killing of soldiers in Delta State will face certain justice, warning that his administration will not tolerate attacks on the military and security infrastructure.

The President also affirmed that the military would continue to enjoy the support of his administration in neutralising security threats across the country.

“Our armed forces are working hard, and we will not allow attackers to undermine the integrity and value of our armed forces and its leadership.

“We will continue to encourage and fight for our sovereignty, our individual rights to exist, and we will succeed in banishing poverty from our land,’’ the President stated.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday, said the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers would begin in April this year and that the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage would meet on March 27 and 28, 2024 to submit and deliberate on its zonal reports. It was also gathered that the current N30,000 minimum wage expires this month, while the new one would take off from next month. This came as state governors warned against unrealistic demands from Labour and urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider the capacities of states to pay the new minimum wage during the meeting on March 27 and 28, 2024. But Labour insisted that the governors were unwilling to pay workers despite receiving bailouts, for instance, during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. They stressed that the payment of salaries was not charity, as workers work hard to earn their salaries. READ ALSO: Budget Padding: Your Integrity Intact, Tinubu Assures Senators Speaking on the March 27 and 28 meeting, the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said, “The zonal committees are submitting the reports of the public hearings on March 27, 2024. “You know that after the public hearings, all that we have are the several zonal reports, so we will now bring them together to work on them before reaching agreements.” He explained that the zonal committees would submit their reports to the Minimum Wage Committee “when we reconvene on March 27 and 28 with the reports from our various zones. “From there we can now look at the various reports, deliberate on them, and do further consultations.” Asked whether the implementation of the new minimum wage would start on April 20 as speculated in some quarters, Ajaero replied, “They don’t pay salaries on the 20th. The effective date for implementation is April. So if we finish (deliberations), they pay, but if we don’t finish, then they will pay arrears for that month.” The Federal Government in January this year announced its plan to implement a new minimum wage to reflect the current economic realities. The current national minimum wage is N30,000, which the labour unions have argued that it is no longer realistic, given the galloping inflation in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu, in his New Year broadcast, said his administration was committed to implementing a new minimum wage to give Nigerian workers an improved welfare. The government subsequently set up a tripartite committee on January 30, 2024, to determine a new minimum wage. The 37-man committee is chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji. The committee had the terms of reference to ‘consult all stakeholders on the issue of national minimum wage and recommend a realistic and practical national minimum wage to the government.’ In furtherance of the assignment, a zonal public hearing was held simultaneously on March 7, 2024 in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja. The NLC and the TUC in different states proposed various figures as a living wage, referencing the current economic crunch and the high costs of living. In their different proposals on the minimum wage, the NLC asked the South-West states to pay N794,000 as the TUC mentioned N447,000. At the North-Central zone hearing in Abuja, the workers demanded N709,000 as the new national minimum wage, while at the South-South, N850,000 minimum wage was demanded. In the North-West, N485,000 was proposed, while the South-East stakeholders demanded N540,000 minimum wage. When approached on Thursday to provide updates on the tripartite committee’s activities, another official with the NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authority to speak on the matter, confirmed the position of the NLC president. The source said, “There will be a meeting of the National Minimum Wage Committee on the 27th and 28th of this month inside the Villa and we expect that those reports will be submitted and acted upon. Other discussions will be furthered during the meetings and we hope that issues around the figures will receive greater attention. “The implementation of the new minimum wage can only commence after it has been passed into law and we expect that the entire process which includes passage into law by the National Assembly would have been completed, at least by April 19, which is the day the existing new minimum wage would have expired. So that the new minimum wage will take off by the next day, being 20th of April, 2024.”

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