By Ken Chiwendu
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says it will not consider the₦62,000 minimum wage offered by the Federal government.
Speaking on ChannelsTV on Monday morning, Chris Onyeka, Assistant General Secretary of the NLC insisted that labour would only stand by the N250,000 wage demand and nothing else.
“We have never considered accepting ₦62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know is able to take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage.
“We have never contemplated ₦100,000 let alone of ₦62,000. We are still at ₦250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation. We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the market place; realities of things we buy every day: bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”
Onyeka said the one-week grace period given to the Federal Government last Tuesday, June 4, 2024, would expire by the midnight of Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
.He said that the Federal Government and the National Assembly had a duty to respond immediately to Labour demand otherwise, the unions would meet and resume the indefinite strike action.
“The Federal Government and the National Assembly have the call now. It is not our call. Our demand is there for them (the government) to look at and send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, and for the National Assembly to look at what we have demanded, the various fact of the law, and then come up with a National Minimum Act that meets our demands.
“If that does not meet our demand, we have given the Federal Government a one-week notice to look at the issues and that one week expires tomorrow (Tuesday). If after tomorrow, we have not seen any tangible response from the government, the organs of the Organised Labour will meet to decide on what next.”
