The Economic Management Team chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will meet in Abuja on Tuesday to take a stand on what the new national minimum wage should be.
Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, disclosed this yesterday, after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside the chairman of the National Minimum Wage Committee (NMWC), Ms. Amma Pepple on the progress made so far by the committee.
Also, a report released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the rate of consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation increased to 11.23 per cent in August from 11.14 per cent in July, the first year -on -year rise after 18 consecutive decline in the inflation rate.
Ngige, who briefed journalists on steps taken so far by the government to resolve the lingering issue, described as untrue insinuation that the government is insensitive to the plights of labour, insisting that the current administration is “a labour friendly government”.
He said: “Next week, we will have an economic management team meeting on Tuesday, specially dedicated to the issue of national minimum wage to be chaired by the Vice President.
“For anybody to say that this government is stalling or playing games will be uncharitable, because, we have done what we are supposed to do. We have the interest of workers at heart.
“We have not retrenched anybody. There is no embargo on employment. There is no embargo on promotions. We are paying backlog of promotional arrears.
“So this government is a labour friendly government and we must put smiles on their faces before the next election…We are labour activists. We don’t want to turn our backs on them.”
Pepple, on her part, said the final report of the negotiating committee, would be sent to President Buhari before the end of September.
She said: “Everything is on course but we need a definite figure from government and of course, we have to carry the states along.
“So, we need those figures so that we can conclude on the figures we include in our report.
“This month, at least, I expect our report will be ready this month. We are submitting our report to Mr. President this month.”
The organised labour recently issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government to conclude negotiations and come up with the final decision on the minimum wage.
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