The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the N27,000 new National Minimum Wage adopted by the National Council of State on Tuesday.
Peter Ozo-Eson, the NLC General Secretary, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, the council has no jurisdiction determining another amount after a Tripartite Committee has submitted its report.
“It is abysmal of government to be delaying the submission of an Executive Bill to the National Assembly and by wrongfully adopting N27,000 through the council of states,” he said.
Mr Ozo-Eson, however, said the NLC has called an emergency National Executive Council meeting for Friday to weigh on the deadline given to government within which to submit an executive bill to the National Assembly.
The NLC general scribe added that the federal government was only projecting a shutdown of the economy with its latest action.
“This is because workers should not be held responsible for any development after its NEC meeting on Friday,’’ he said.
Earlier, the National Council of State (NCS) Tuesday had approved N27,000 as the new national minimum wage and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly transmit an executive bill to that effect to the National Assembly for passage into law. The NCS is made up of former heads of state and presidents, and governors of the 36 states, among others.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the closed-door meeting, said President Buhari would transmit the bill to the National Assembly before the end of Wednesday.
The Federal Government had promised to conclude work on the New National Minimum Wage Bill for onward transmission to the lawmakers on or before 23rd January, 2019.
While employers of labour in both private and public sectors and the state governments will pay N27,000 as the minimum wage, Ngige said the Federal Government will pay its workers N30,000.
