Members of the tripartite committee, comprising the federal government and labour unions, have resumed talks on a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The committee reconvened in Abuja on Wednesday.
Speaking with newsmen after the meeting, the President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Festus Osifo, said the federal government did not present a new minimum wage offer during the talks.
“Nothing has been presented yet. The minister of finance said they are still working on the template that the president mandated them to work on,” he said.
According to him, all they were discussing were the principles behind some of these issues, but have not presented anything beyond what was presented earlier.
He therefore expressed optimism that when they reconvene again, they would have something to relate to.
The federal government was represented at the meeting by Wale Edun, minister of finance; Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and national planning; and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, minister of labour.
Representatives of the secretary to the government of the federation and the head of service of the federation were also present.
For the organised labour, Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Osifo were in attendance.
Abdulateef Shittu, director-general of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), was also present.
Recall that the organiszed labour on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike over the federal government’s failure to meet their demand for a new minimum wage.
The organised labour had proposed N615,500 and N494,000 as the new national minimum wage, which the government said was unrealistic.
On Tuesday, the organised labour relaxed the industrial action for one week to allow negotiations with the federal government on a new minimum wage.