The Federal Government has appealed to organised labour to shelve its planned industrial action and return to the negotiating table.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had on Friday declared an indefinite strike beginning from Monday over the hike in electricity tariff and the inability of a tripartite committee on new minimum wage to reach a consensus.
But barely a day after the declaration, the Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris urged labour to weigh its move and consider the financial implications of its N494,000 new minimum wage demand on the government.
‘Return to Negotiating Table’
“Like I said now on the 31st of May 2024 in one of its meetings, which is supposed to be the seventh meeting of the tripartite agreement, labour walked out of that meeting,” he said in Abuja.
“This of course was to be the third time that labour was walking out of the meeting of the tripartite committee. On the two previous occasions, labour was persuaded to see reasons to come back to the negotiating table. We are also hoping that labour will again see reasons this time around to also return to negotiating table in the interest of Nigeria.”
He said: “The sum of N494,000 national minimum wage which labour is seeking would cumulatively amount to the sum N9.5 trillion bill to the Federal Government of Nigeria”.