Private Sector, FG Agrees on N60,000 as Minimum Wage – MAN – News – The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Ajayi Kadri, has confirmed that the organized private sector has agreed with the Federal Government that the new minimum wage should be N60,000.

Kadri disclosed this during an interview with Channels TV on Saturday in Abuja.

The president of MAN explained that ongoing negotiations between the government, the private sector and employees focus on the minimum wage – the lowest amount that can be paid to an employee in the country.

According to Kadri, the economic environment is challenging for both workers and private companies, making it almost impossible for them to meet trade union wage demands.

“First of all, negotiating the minimum wage is very difficult for everyone. From the perspective of government, labor and the organized private sector, we operate in an environment where there is widespread acceptance that macroeconomics is not right, even the global economy is experiencing many shocks and fallout from necessary government reforms.

“From the beginning of the negotiations on the trilateral minimum wage – that is, the government, workers and the organized private sector – it was obvious that we would be operating in difficult terrain.

“By the way, the organized private sector and the government have offered ₹60,000 as the minimum wage and I think it is very important that we understand that what we are talking about is the minimum wage.

“This is what some people call upfront pay. This is the amount we will pay the least to employees in the country. We are negotiating the minimum wage, not the living wage,” Ajayi said.

Speaking further, Kadri noted that both the government and the private sector face huge constraints in meeting the proposed demand for a living wage of N419,000.

He said the private sector, for example, is facing economic challenges and inflation, making it impossible to pay such an amount.

He also made clear that this is not the best time for organized labor to negotiate a new minimum wage, but to work with other involved stakeholders to build the economy together.

“All of us in the tripartite – government, workers and the private sector – knew that we were operating in very difficult conditions. The government itself realized that it had limited payment options. The private sector is constrained by microeconomic, infrastructure and security challenges. Therefore we are forced to pay.

“Labour, for its part, is under intense pressure from its constituencies to demand higher pay as inflation has peaked and the operating environment is difficult.

“During the negotiations, we made it clear that this was not the best time to negotiate the minimum wage. It’s time for us, the team behind the government, to come to an agreement and develop the economy in such a way that we can bake a bigger cake and then we can share it,” added the MAN president.

On Friday, the National Labor Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) announced an indefinite strike over the federal government’s newly proposed minimum wage.

According to trade union leaders, this decision follows the expiration of an earlier request to the federal government to end all negotiations on a new minimum wage by the end of May.

Since the subsidy was removed, labor leaders have proposed several measures, including a new minimum wage, alternative transportation options and other measures to lessen the impact of the subsidy’s removal.

The government later established a committee of labor leaders, government officials, and the organized private sector to negotiate a new minimum wage.

Despite several meetings, the committee failed to reach a consensus.