Society Gists

Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is set to announce a new minimum wage for Nigerians barring any last-minute changes.

This was revealed by Comrade Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), while speaking on the outcome of the union’s Tuesday meeting with the federal government on the fuel subsidy removal.

TUC had given the government a two-week ultimatum to attend to its demands or risk industrial action from workers across the country.

Appearing on ChannelsTV’s Politics Today on Tuesday evening, Osifo quoted the Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, to have met with President Tinubu and the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun on the issue.

Osifo said Lalong told the union that the issue of wages had been reviewed adding that President Tinubu would speak on the matter in the coming days.

“The minister of labor told us that he had an audience with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of finance and had reviewed the issue of wage award. But the president asked them to fine-tune the issues before he makes the announcement,” the TUC president said.

“The minister told us all these issues would be streamlined but because the president has traveled we should give him an extra two weeks. We said no; we don’t have an extra two weeks to give. After more discussions, he said the president would make a proper announcement next week.”

“We are going to monitor the distribution of palliatives in states to make sure the scheme is implemented appropriately. We want to see the template of the implementation which is why we engaged the federal government on this issue. We also raised issues around taxation and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas),” the TUC president added.