The Federal Government and labour unions in the country reached a truce on the issue of the new National Minimum Wage Bill, as the Federal Government finally agreed to send the bill to the National Assembly by January 23.
The agreement came on a day labour unions staged a protest rally all over the country over the failure of government to send the bill to lawmakers.
At the end of the government/union leaders meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Kaigama Bobboi, warned that if the Federal Government fails to transmit the bill to National Assembly by the promised, labour unions would resort to industrial action without any warning.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who presided over the meeting at his ministry, assured that the Federal Government would send the bill to lawmakers on January 23, 2018, after members of the National Assembly must have resumed from their recess.
“As for the transmission of the executive bill to the National Assembly, the government will religiously implement all the processes that will enable us to transmit this bill within the stipulated time.
“We have a target time of January 23, 2018, and we hope that all things being equal, the government will be able to do so. We will take all statutory meetings of the Federal Executive Council, National Economic Council and the National Council of State meetings to enable us transmit the bill on the new national minimum wage. I thank the labour unions for their understanding and appeal to them that the threats should come down. Protests are no longer necessary,” he said.
Nigria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Ayuba Wabba, said workers had been patient with government for more than two years. Government, he said, has no excuse to delay transmission of the new minimum wage bill to the National Assembly to pass into law.
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