Minimum wage: Fed govt to introduce amendment to 2024 Budget – Idris

By Egena Sunday Ode

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has been mandated by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to peopose an amendment bill to the 2024 Budget which will be presented to the National Assembly for consideration.
It was explained that the planned amendment to the budget ws imperative in view the new fiscal developments, including the impending new national minimum wage.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to newsmen after the FEC meeting, presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
He said Tinubu is expected to hold a follow up meeting with leaders of the organised Labour on Thursday this week, after which the proposed amendment bill to the budget would be passed on to the National Assembly for consideration.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu had met with the leadership of the organized labour on Thursday last week over the minimum wage issue.
The Tripartite Committee of the new National Minimum Wage had submitted two separate figures to the President following the disagreement among the different stakeholders.
While the government team and the organized private sector had offered N62,000, the organized labour made a demand of N250,000.
President Tinubu upon the receipt of the committee’s report, had promised to meet with the relevant stakeholders so as to harmonize the figure before transmitting executive bill to the National Assembly.
“Now, you are also aware that last week, the Nigerian Labour Congress met with Mr. President. This was part of the consultations that the President was doing, recall that he had met the organized private sector, he had also met the sub-nationals after the tripartite committee on labour submitted its report, in order to ensure that there is a thorough analysis of the situation, so the government will come up with a minimum wage that works for all Nigerians, the federal government, the sub-nationals and organized private sector. That was also discussed today.
“Government has also directed the Ministry of Budget to also come up with additional support for the 2024 Budget so that any differential or any gaps that will exist in terms of what existed before the 2024 Budget was approved and the Supplementary Budget and also what the requirement is for now.
“So government is working round the clock to ensure that it comes up with a minimum wage, like I said, that works for all Nigerians at the end of the day. This of course will be submitted to the National Assembly so that it can have legislative backing.
“Let me also say that the President is also open to meeting the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and all the affiliates. We expect that meeting to hold this coming Thursday. Recall that this was already what the Labour unions requested during their meeting with Mr. President last week. So the President is in agreement, he knows that the Labour wants to quickly finalize this issue of minimum wage and government is also anxious to put the issue of minimum wage behind it.
“So it is expecting that the Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and all their affiliates, as requested by them last week, will meet the president on Thursday and after which the President will now transmit whatever the final agreements or what his views are on the tripartite committee’s report to the National Assembly for legislation”, Idris said.
When asked to elaborate further on the proposed bill to be sent to the National Assembly with regards to the budget, Idris said “there has been talk about, some people are saying there’s multiple budgets and all that. It is not it is not the case and that is why the Minister of Budget has been asked to submit this additional information to the National Assembly to make it take an informed position on most of these”.
He said “an amendment (act) to be sent to the National Assembly. Of course it is the tradition of the executive to allow the National Assembly to unveil some of these things and that is why we don’t want to go into further details. I’m sure the National Assembly, once it gets budget… they will do that. The executive is always respectful of the tradition of the National Assembly in terms of their protocol”.
Asked if figures for the proposed new national minimum wage were discussed, Idris said there was no discussion around figures, explaining that the issues guiding the discussion are around the fact that whatever comes out as the final figures would have to be considerate of other salary paying entities, which has informed the President’s ongoing consultations.
“I think it is the general parameters and the general principle of the minimum wage itself and like we have said here several, the federal government is not in opposition to wage increase. The President and the Federal Executive Council and the federal government are not in opposition to the concept of wage increase.
“The issue has been a wage increase that we can defend, meaning a wage increase that will not lead to inflation, a wage increase that not just the federal government, but the sub-nationals and the organized private sector, are able to pay and something that is also sustainable.
“Recall that the President also mentioned last week that because of the fact that he is not in opposition to the issue of wage increase, he has even asked that instead of waiting for a whole five years before wages are reviewed, he has mooted the idea that we can actually look at these wages between two to three years so that if there are gaps, we don’t have to wait for five years for those gaps to be closed.
“So the discussion was not around the figure itself, it’s about the general parameters and the general principle of the wage increase itself, which the government fully supports, but federal government will have to do something that not only it can carry, the sub-nationals and the organized private sector will also be able to go along.
“Recall that I’ve said it here that the issue of national minimum wage is not just that of the federal government; it is for the federal government, for the sub-nationals and for the organized private sector, therefore, every decision to be taken by the President will have to also take note of the sensibilities of the other parts that I talked about.
“So yes, there will be wage increase because there is already a proposal before the President, there is already a report before the President, the president is deepening his consultation and it is in that spirit that he met with the organized Labour last week and he’s also, as they requested, he will also meet with them on Thursday this week to finalize their thoughts and then he will make his informed position known to Nigerians by also sending this to the National Assembly”, Idris said.