NLC, FG Give Subsidy Committee Eights Weeks To Decide Minimum Wage

A committee has been set up to consider the demands of the Federal Government (FG), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and given an eight-week deadline to decide on the minimum wage.

Recall the decision to set up a committee was collectively made on June 5, 2023, as part of the resolution by the unions and the FG following the fuel subsidy removal.

The Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Special Duties, and Strategy, Dele Alake, the President TUC Festus Osifo, and President of NLC Comrade Joe Ajaero disclosing that a Presidential Steering Committee to which several sub-committees would report on various aspects of the demands has been created.

Ajaero said that there are long-term and short-term effects of subsidy removal and in those key areas, several sub-committees will be created to report on the various demands before the end of August.

He said “The purpose of the meeting today is actually to put together the framework, what we submitted as our demand, how will they be delivered and so we are looking at that framework, the government came with what they think will work, we also made some input. From this night, we are going to continue the work to have that framework together.

“This meeting is intended to give life to those agreements that were reached. We have set up committees in those key areas to work on them to ensure we wrap up in the next eight weeks.”

“We agreed that anything we are putting together we are going to conclude everything in eight weeks. Everything must be rolled out within that time not something that we are going to leave endlessly.”

Highlighting some of its current challenges and how to tackle them, he said “The issue of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), we need experts, people that are willing to invest, the help of national oil company, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to come up with what they need to do and the time with which they are going to deliver

“These are some workings that are required beyond this meeting, and a technical committee will be incorporated into the Presidential committee but we must conclude everything maximum in eight weeks.

‘’So those technical committees, some will submit their reports in one week when they submit in one week, we implement when they submit in two weeks, we also implement but the last should not exceed eight weeks, and by June 26th, 2023, we will convene here again.”

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