By Junaid Abdullahi
The president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has revealed why the union rejected the federal government’s latest minimum wage offer.
The union president made this disclosure while speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
Naija News had earlier reported that the President Bola Tinubu-led government made a fresh minimum wage offer to the Ajaero-led union. The union, however, rejected the offer.
The union is insisting that the federal government should explain how it arrived at its new ₦54,000 minimum wage proposition.
Ajaero stated that the federal government had yet to give a justification for its new proposition.
Asked if an explanation was given as to how the federal government arrived at the new ₦54,000 minimum wage offer, Ajaero said, “Those are part of the issue because we did not go even deep into the canals of the discussion.
“Labour has been insisting that they should provide that explanation, but she (the labour minister) was the person who made the offer on behalf of the federal government, citing that the government had been involved in many projects, including the provision of fertilizers and many other projects.
But you see, we did not get talking because, you see, that offer is neither here nor there. They have not given any justification on what they expect us to do because we itemized all that we needed, then we expected them to go into it so that we will harmonize on something, but they are yet to commence discussion apart from this paltry offer.
“It is still not substantial for what is needed to keep the family moving, there are various ways of expressing your displeasure on issues last time, we told them there was no case submission, this time, we told them that there was nothing on the table when they moved to 54 and the state governors were missing in action, we may reconvene tomorrow, giving the governors benefit of the doubt to come along so that they will not claim that their hairs were shaved in their absence that is why we are continuing negotiations tomorrow.”
