Nigerian governors to discuss workers' minimum wage

Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-14 23:09:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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LAGOS, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- State governors in Nigeria have called for an emergency meeting where the issue of the minimum wage is expected to be discussed in Abuja, the nation's capital, on Wednesday night.

The meeting, which will be presided over by the Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, will take a definite stand on the amount the governors will be able to pay as minimum wage to avert a strike by the organized labor.

The meeting is coming barely 48 hours after the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to expedite action on the proposed new national minimum wage by transmitting it to the National Assembly in good time.

Peter Eson-Ozo, NLC's scribe, said the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage had concluded its meetings and a report of 30,000 naira was agreed upon as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

Buhari pledged to send a bill to the National Assembly to put the change in effect, after receiving the report of a tripartite committee on the review of national minimum wage Tuesday afternoon in Abuja.

He said his administration is committed to having a new wage act, urging workers to avoid being used as political weapons through industrial actions.

Nigeria's organized labor had threatened to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike, to protest the government's failure to respond to its demand for the new minimum wage.

The labor unions are asking the federal government to raise the national minimum wage from 18,000 naira (50.07 U.S. dollars) to 30,000 naira, citing the current economic realities, especially the high rate of inflation in the country.

The 18,000-naira minimum wage was approved when the naira was exchanging at 145 to one dollar, and it has been unchanged for seven years. The naira now stands at around 360 to one dollar on the parallel market.

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