By Goodluck Ikiebe
The Nigerian government and the organised Labour are currently in a meeting, just hours ahead of the workforce’s planned nationwide strike.
The meeting, which is a follow-up on the one held on Sunday, October 1, is meant to indicate organised Labour’s final decision on the government’s offers present at the previous day’s engagement.
It would be that President Bola Tinubu had agreed to a N35,000, Provisional wage increment demand by labour after his initial N25,000 approval for the average low-grade worker to run for six months was rejected.
Instead, labour insisted that the provisional wage increment should be across the board and run till a new minimum wage expected to be negotiated next year is put in place.
A statement issued by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained that some of the resolutions reached at the Sunday meeting were that, “the issues in dispute can only be resolved when workers are at work and not when they are on strike.
“Labour Unions argued for higher wage awards and the Federal Government Team promised to present Labour’s request to President Bola Tinubu for further consideration.
“A sub-committee to be constituted to work out the details of implementation of all items for consideration regarding government interventions to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.