The Nigerian government and organised labour have agreed to set up a minimum wage committee which is to be inaugurated within one month from October 2nd, the date of the agreement.
The parties committed to the agreement after a two-day meeting held between the leadership of the Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress at the State House Abuja.
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The meeting, which is a follow-up on the one held on Sunday, indicated organised Labour’s final decision on the government’s offers present at the previous day’s engagement.
As part of the compromise and resolutions achieved after the meetings, the Federal Government suspended the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel for six months beginning in October 2023.
The Nigerian Government also accepts to vote of N100 billion for the provision of high-capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria while plans are also ongoing to provide the initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an autogas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide.
The consensus among the parties is that the rollout will begin in November with pilot schemes across 10 campuses nationwide.
The Federal Government plans to implement various tax incentive measures for the private sector and the general public.
On the leadership crises affecting the NURTW and the purported proscription of RTEAN, the Federal Government commits to handling Labour matters in line with relevant ILO Conventions and Nigerian Labour Acts.
A resolution of the ongoing impasse is expected by or before October 13.
The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions was referred to the Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.
The Federal Government further commits to pay N25,000 per month for three months beginning from October 2023 to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners.
The Nigerian government also said that it would increase its initiatives on the subsidized distribution of fertilizers to farmers across the country.
In a communique jointly signed by the leadership of the organized Union and the Ministers of Labour, the parties tasked the Federal Government to urge the State Government through the National Economic Council and Governors Forum to implement wage awards for their workers.
It added that similar consideration should also be given to local government and private sector workers.
The Federal Government had earlier committed to the provision of funds as announced by the President in his nationwide Independence broadcast on the 1st of October for Micro and Small Scale Enterprises.
The meeting consented that the MSME beneficiaries should commit to the principle of decent jobs.
