Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has announced that the Tripartite Committee on the minimum wage, of which he is a member, is close to reaching an agreement on a new national minimum wage.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Emerging from the committee’s marathon meeting on Friday in Abuja, which lasted over 12 hours, Uzodimma expressed optimism about the progress made.
“We had very fruitful deliberations. This is a technical subcommittee of a larger committee, and at our level, we have reached near consensus. By the time we move to the plenary, we expect to have a complete agreement, and then the media can be properly briefed. As it stands now, we are in a much better position,” Uzodimma stated.
According to PUNCH, the committee has completed their unit meetings and will now proceed to the plenary to harmonize their decisions and hopefully finalize a figure for the new minimum wage.
Organized labor had rejected the initial N60,000 proposal and launched a nationwide strike on Monday. The strike was suspended on Tuesday after the Nigerian government promised to negotiate a higher minimum wage.
The current meeting, the fifth since the suspension of the industrial action, is being held behind closed doors at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja. Key committee members in attendance include the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, a representative from the Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu.
