The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has forwarded the projected cost implications of carrying out a new national minimum wage to President Bola Tinubu.
Edun, along with the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, presented President Tinubu with the cost implications of the new minimum wage in his office at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Addressing State House correspondents after meeting with the President, Edun confirmed the submission and reassured that “there is no cause for alarm.”
Recall that President Tinubu had on Tuesday during a meeting with the government negotiation team on the new minimum wage led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the finance minister to prepare the cost implication of implementing a new minimum wage.
Other team members at the meeting included the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Labour, and Information, as well as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited.
The organised labour, made up of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, had embarked on a nationwide strike on Monday to demand an increased minimum wage for workers and the reversal of the recently hiked electricity tariffs.
However, the labour union leadership relaxed the strike on Tuesday for five days after signing a commitment with the Federal Government to resume negotiations and come up with a new minimum wage within a week.
