The Tripartite Committee on the upward review of the national minimum wage will be constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari, within the next one month.
Already, the Technical Committee on palliative, which is to come up with the modalities and framework of the Tripartite Committee on minimum wage is to submit its reports to the Federal Government on Tuesday, next week.
Minister of Labour and Productivity Senator Chris Ngige, who spoke with Tribune Online last night said the Technical Committee supposed to have submitted the report last week, but for the grey areas detected in the report.
He said the grey areas needed to be fine tuned before the submission of the very important report, which will signal the commencement of negotiation on the new national minimum wage in the country.
“The Technical Committee was to submit its report last week but we observed some grey areas in the report, which they asked the members to go and fine tune. The report will be submitted on Tuesday,” Ngige said on Wednesday.
On the review of the national minimum wage, he stated that all should wait until the Technical Committee submits its report next week, adding that the next move would be determined based on the report of the committee.
The minister pointed out that the Tripartite Committee on minimum wage would be constituted based on the report of the Technical Committee.
The Tripartite Committee which will comprise the government, employers and labour, will have to sit down and negotiate what is desirable as a national minimum wage, the least an employer should pay a worker across the country.
Also, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said while speaking to journalists earlier that organised labour was hopeful that the minimum wage committee would be constituted soon.
He added that after the submission of the report of the Technical Committee, the President would then set up the tripartite committee.
The NLC president also supported the position of the minister when he pointed out that the report of the Technical Committee was ready for submission, but the organised labour requested to see the report before its submission.
He emphasized that the minimum wage review was long overdue, adding that there is a consensus on this.
Comrade Wabba said. “I think there is a consensus on the fact that nobody has said that the minimum wage should not be reviewed. The palliative report is ready and it would be submitted before the end of the month.”
“At the last palliative meeting, labour leaders had requested that they needed to look at the main report of the committee before submission. So, the technical committee will have to submit its report to Mr President.”