The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said that the Federal Government was studying the recent demand of the organised Labour for a new minimum wage of N56,000 in the country. The minister said that he had received a letter from the government for appropriate advice for the resolution of the issue without industrial unrest.
Ngige said that the government would not pick issues with the organised Labour as the demand was legitimate.
The Deputy Director in charge of the press at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Samuel Olowookere, quoted the minister as having made the comment while receiving the executive members of the Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa in Abuja on Monday.
He said that the demand by the Labour movement for wage increase did not mean that they had disagreement with the government.
Ngige said that the minimum wage was a product of an existing agreement which was subject to re-negotiation.
“The other day, the labour requested increased wages for workers and they have only done what they are supposed to do. Therefore, nobody will quarrel with them.
“At the appropriate time, we shall all sit down because what the labour is asking is for the renegotiation of an existing Collective Bargain Agreement. And every CBA based on an agreement is subject to renegotiation at any given time that any of the partners requests for it.
“It is wrong for people to think that whenever labour makes such a demand the nation is boiling. The labour in Nigeria has for the first time met a labour-friendly government under President Muhammadu Buhari.”