The Federal Government has increased its offer of a new national minimum wage to N62,000, while organised labour has reduced its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.
This comes after the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, submitted the cost implication of minimum wage to President Bola Tinubu.
“After wasting our time, they finally came up with the offer of N62,000 which was backed by the private sector. Labour also reduced ours to N250,000. This is embarrassing,” the source who is part of negotiation from the labour side said.
It was reported that Tinubu had earlier directed Edun to present the cost implications for a new minimum wage within two days.
The President gave the order at a meeting with the government negotiation team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Though Edun has submitted the proposal to the president, it has not been made public.
Recall that organised labour, comprising 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 increased electricity tariffs.
However, the labour union leadership suspended 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.
It is not yet clear if labour will accept the new proposal from the government.
The Nigerian Governors Forum had, earlier on Friday, said any minimum wage above N60,000 will not be sustainable.