Minimum wage: Be patient with Tinubu, Presidency requests

The Presidency urged Nigerians on Monday not to put undue pressure on President Bola Tinubu, promising to send the new minimum wage bill to the National Assembly as soon as it was completed.

The request was made over the phone with The PUNCH by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Advisor to the President on Information and Strategy.

The guarantee was given just a day after the President was urged by Organised Labour to think twice before sending the measure to the National Assembly and to consult and come to an agreement with its leadership.

The workers’ union acknowledged that Tinubu’s failure to send the wage bill is causing the much-anticipated National Executive Committee meeting—which would include over 300 Labour leaders—to get delayed.

June 4 was the most recent combined extraordinary national executive council conducted by the TUC and the NLC.

The purpose of the emergency meeting was to decide whether to carry out the agreement they negotiated with the government and suspend the strike altogether.

The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress refuted the President’s announcement on Democracy Day that there had been an agreement reached between the Federal Government and Labor on the new pay.

After Tinubu quit the Labour Party a month after his speech, Nigerians anxiously awaited word on what the FG was up to.

Onanuga reacted, questioning why there was such a haste to get the law sent.

The presidential adviser pleaded for additional time, acknowledging that he was unaware of the deadline for submission.

“People should be patient,” he said.

His plea comes only one week after he reaffirmed that the N250,000 salary that the workers’ union is demanding is unaffordable and that the federal government is unable to allocate all of its resources to satisfy such a demand.