The Federal Government on Sunday said the provisional wage increase announced by President Bola Tinubu for all low-income workers for six months would cut across all treasury-paid workers.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, revealed this to State House correspondents at the end of a four-hour marathon emergency meeting with the leaders of Organised Labour.
The compromise was reached to avert the proposed indefinite nationwide strike declared by the organised labour.
Following the development, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were expected to suspend their planned strike slated to commence on Tuesday after discussing the resolutions with their state chapters and affiliates on Monday (Today).
The meeting came hours after the President in his Independence Day broadcast announced the approval of a N25,000 provisional wage increase for certain category of federal workers for the next six months.
Briefing journalists on the meeting outcome, Gbajabiamila said, “There was a lot of chatter on Twitter about the issue of low-income workers only falling into the category of the provisional wage increase. And we did communicate with the President and he quickly did say and agreed that all categories of workers will be given the wage bill. There is nothing like low income, median income or high income.”
He expressed optimism that the labour unions would backtrack on their planned strike.
Hopefully, we expect that Labour will call a meeting of their various branches and executive tomorrow to present the agreements that have been reached, and we pray and we believe and we hope that the strike will be called off on Tuesday,’’ he noted.
However, The media gathered that labour leaders rejected Tinubu’s N25,000 provisional wage increment for low-grade workers.
They also rejected the government’s proposed six-month period the provisional increase covers and insisted that it should run until a new minimum wage is approved.
Unconfirmed sources at the meeting also said the unions insisted that the wage increase should be reviewed upwards to N35,000.
As a result, the Federal Government raised the wage award to N35,000.
But the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris, in a statement disclosed that the parties resolved that the issues in dispute could only be resolved when workers were at work and not when they were on strike.
The statement read, ‘’Labour unions argued for higher wage award and the Federal Government team promised to present Labour’s request to President Bola Tinubu for further consideration.
“We’ve looked at almost all the issues, all the promissory notes from the government and we’ll look at how to translate them into reality and workable.
“Then we’re going to take those promises to our organs. We’re hopeful that our organs will have a look at them and give us a fresh mandate on what next to do. So it’s a simple one,” Ajaero said.
Turning to his comrades, he added, “Of course, you know these people here cannot just wake up and review and call off the (strike) action.”
Echoing Ajaero’s comments, Tommy Etim Okon, who spoke on behalf of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, said, “We’ve had series of conversations surrounding the issues raised and we do hope that by tomorrow (Monday), we are going to get across to our organs so that we can also look at it and cross-fertilise ideas and see the way forward. I’m sure we’re coming back again tomorrow for that.”
The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Governor Abdulrazak Abdulrahman of Kwara State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, participated virtually in the meeting chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Also in attendance were the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris; the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong; the Minister of State, Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite; the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan; and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
The labour delegation was led by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, Deputy President, TUC, Dr Tommy Etim, NLC General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja, TUC General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, and others.
The Sunday parley, which kicked off around 3pm was convened two days after a similar meeting failed to hold due to the refusal of the Labour leaders to show up for the parley.
The two main umbrella bodies for workers in the country-the NLC and TUC had announced an indefinite strike with effect from Tuesday to protest the alleged failure of the Federal Government to provide post-subsidy palliatives for workers and implement policies that could alleviate the sufferings of the masses after the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The unions had also directed their state chapters and affiliates to mobilise for the shutdown of critical facilities and infrastructure, including airports, seaports, electricity grids and fuel supply across the country.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef fagbemi, SAN, in a letter addressed to the counsel to the NLC and TUC, Femi Falana, SAN, reminded them about a subsisting injunction from the National Industrial Court restraining them from declaring a strike action.
Fagbemi said irrespective of their disposition on the matter, the court order must be obeyed unless it is vacated and advised Falana to advise the labour leaders to abide by the court judgment to protect its integrity.
But the unions waved off the FG’s objection as it continued mobilising its various affiliates and branches for the strike which was expected to cripple economic and commercial activities across the country.
But in a bid to woo the labour unions, the President in his Sunday morning broadcast explained that the wage increase would be paid to low-grade workers for the next six months just as he acknowledged the sufferings of Nigerians since the scrapping of petrol subsidy on May 29.
He said it gave him no joy to watch citizens shoulder burdens that would have been shed a long time ago.
According to him, the decision followed negotiations with the labour unions and other stakeholders in the business community to increase the federal minimum wage without triggering undue inflation.
“For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional N25,000 per month,” Tinubu announced during his maiden Independence Day address to Nigerians.
He said the reforms were necessary to rid the system of the grip of those he called “a select and greedy few.”
“I am attuned to the hardships that have come. I have a heart that feels and eyes that see. I wish to explain to you why we must endure this trying moment.
“Reform may be painful, but it is what greatness and the future require. We now carry the costs of reaching a future Nigeria where the abundance and fruits of the nation are fairly shared among all, not hoarded by a select and greedy few. A Nigeria where hunger, poverty and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.
“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future,” he explained.
The President affirmed that his government is doing all that it can to ease the load.
He then outlined the path his administration was taking to relieve the stress on families and households, saying, “We have embarked on several public sector reforms to stabilise the economy, direct fiscal and monetary policy to fight inflation, encourage production, ensure the security of lives and property and lend more support to the poor and the vulnerable.”
He added that “Based on our talks with labour, business and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation.”
Affiliates ready
Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has said it will join the proposed strike declared by the NLC and TUC.
SSANU in a communique issued at the end of the 45th regular National Executive Council held at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State and made available to The PUNCH on Sunday, read, “NEC-in-session after due deliberations agreed that SSANU as an affiliate of the NLC will join the strike to protest the insensitivity of Government in providing palliatives to cushion the effect of removal of fuel subsidy.
‘’NEC, therefore, mandated all branches to mobilise her members to join the strike as declared as the demands before the Government also includes the release of withheld salaries of university workers.”
“What one expects is that the government should be able to give reasonable assurances to labour. Labour should also understand the situation the government finds itself in. Grounding the economy and virtually putting a stop to daily business activities is not in the best interest of the economy and the country at this time.”
In a related development, the National Union of Road Transport Workers has said its members would not participate in the Tuesday strike.
The Chairman of NURTW in Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Ariwoola, disclosed that the union’s leadership had directed commercial drivers not to join the labour action.
But the state NLC said it held a meeting with bank managers in the state to demand total compliance during the strike.
“We visited some of the banks yesterday including Polaris Bank where we told the manager that the strike will be monitored by a special monitoring team and he assured us that once a memo is received by the bank, they will have no choice but to join us.” an NLC official disclosed.
Meanwhile, the NLC has admonished Nigerians to hold their leaders accountable while lamenting the rising cost of living owing to the removal of fuel subsidy.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in a statement on the 63rd Independence anniversary, said Nigerians “must demand accountability from our leaders. The days of impunity and unbridled corruption must come to an end.’’
He added, ‘’We call on all Nigerians to actively participate in the democratic process, holding our elected officials to the highest standards of integrity and performance. It is inexplicable why this persistent contradiction of; the harder we work, the less we earn which has kept Nigerian workers totally emasculated and unable to meet their basic needs.’’
