Amid the standstill in negotiation of the new national minimum wage, a labour leader, Akeem Ambali, the National Treasurer of the National Labour Congress (NLC) has sent a message to President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In his message, he urged the president to go ahead and recommend the new mimium wage to the National Assembly after discussing with organised labor on the agreement.

He spoke of this in an interview with the Punch that was published on Saturday, June 29, the NLC Treasurer, solicit President Tinubu to concentrate on discussing with labor with realistic data and statistics.

He insisted on a living wage, and he also asked all stakeholders to be sincere about the new mimium wage negotiation.

He also urged president Tinubu to genuinely intervene in the deadlock discussion of the minimum wage.

According to him:

“It is a tripartite committee. Two are on the same page, because they are employers, and the two cumulatively amount to one, because they are both employees. It is only the employees that are agitating because they are the ones that feel the pinch; they know where it hurts. Mr President should concentrate his energy on engaging Labour with realistic data and statistics, which can be obtained from the Federal Bureau of Statistics. How much does it take to feed a family in a month? We should be guided by that. Once we are able to do that and we are sincere about it, the president can then engage labour, and we will resolve this amicably.”

Also, Tommy Etim, the deputy president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), directed his message to President Tinubu that he should caution Nigerian governors for suggesting that they should be allowed to determine the wages of their workers.

It was also reported that the organized labor said that they expects the president to reach out to the members of the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage to agree on the amount to be paid.

Labour also noted that they would be expecting to see a copy of the drafted bill that would be sent to the National Assembly.