Senate President Godswill Akpabio declared that Senators and House of Representatives members consider themselves ‘labourers’ during a closed-door meeting on Sunday with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and several Ministers regarding the unions’ planned industrial action.
“I hope you know we are also labourers. We are all labourers. We are under you,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio appealed to the unions to shelve the proposed strike in the interest of Nigerians and the nation, acknowledging the lengthy negotiations on the new minimum wage.
“The leadership of both chambers is aware that there was a tripartite committee in place to negotiate with labour on the new minimum wage for the country, taking cognisance of all the variables, including the removal of fuel subsidy, including the expiration of time since the last minimum wage was imputed. We are aware that those negotiations have taken quite a while. We are aware that the federal government, in its wisdom through President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, decided to institute a wage award of N35,000 at the federal level for workers pending the outcome of negotiations of a new minimum wage,” he said.
The NLC and TUC began their strike on Monday following the federal government’s refusal to increase the minimum wage above N60,000. The labour unions are demanding N494,000 from the government.
