The Federal Government has commenced background consultations ahead of fresh negotiations on the national minimum wage, in a move aimed at improving the welfare of Nigerian workers.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr Kamil Shoretire, disclosed this during a capacity-building workshop for labour correspondents in Abuja. He stated that although no timetable had been announced for the formal commencement of negotiations, preliminary discussions were already under way.
“We are yet to announce the timetable for that, but background discussions are already ongoing. When it’s time to get the press involved in what has been proposed and what is being negotiated, it will be revealed to you,” he said.
Dr Shoretire emphasised that the consultations formed part of broader efforts to address wage and allowance issues across various sectors, noting that collective bargaining discussions were also ongoing with workers in health, education and other sectors.
“Various discussions with health, education and other sectors that have lots of issues in terms of wages and allowances are ongoing and they are being fast-tracked so that the ones that are agreed will reflect in next year’s budget,” he added.
The Permanent Secretary also revealed that the Federal Government had responded to a complaint filed against it by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), meeting the 1 September deadline set by the organisation.
“Let me start with the ILO. We have met the deadline. We have responded to the request from the ILO. I was there when a complaint was filed by the NLC against the Nigerian government at the ILO on some of the labour issues that are yet to be resolved in the country.
“We responded at the ILO, but we also got that certain areas were not addressed or were pending. So those ones were the ones that we got a deadline on 1 September, and we have responded accordingly,” he said.
The NLC had petitioned the ILO at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, alleging violations of workers’ rights under the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, otherwise known as Convention No. 98.
