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By Nasir Kura
The National Council of State on Tuesday approved N27,000 as new national minimum wage, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said.
The minister disclosed this while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the National Council of State meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said a bill on the new minimum wage would be transmitted to the National Assembly in the on Wednesday, January 22, 2019, for passage into law.
He said N27,000 is the benchmark for all employers of labour with more than 25 workers on their payroll.
The minister said p, however, that the federal government has resolved to pay its workers N30,000 as minimum wage while state governments are free to negotiate with their respective staff.
The organised labour represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria is insisting on a N30,000 minimum.
The National Council of State meeting which lasted for about three hours, was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) and the former Head of the Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.
Others, who attended the meeting were three former Chief Justices of Nigeria – Muhammadu Uwais, Alfa Belgore and Mahmud Mohammed while former Heads of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd) and General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) were, however, absent.
