The Presidency has insisted that the N250,000 minimum wage clamour by Organised Labour is unsustainable, warning that the Federal Government cannot channel all its resources to meet such a demand.
The warning comes two days after the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria raised concerns over the N62,000 proposed by the FG.
The ALGON said the wage may stretch the councils’ financial burden if approved.
On Tuesday, May 28, talks between the Federal Government and Organised Labour broke down after the government and the Organised Private Sector raised their offers to N62,000.
But the labour unions described the proposal as an insult to the intelligence of the average Nigerian worker, which deserves far better than what the government offered
Speaking in an exclusive interview, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed that unless the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were selfish, they should consider that the resources meant for the entire Nigerians could not be channelled to only the benefit of their members who are not more than 10 per cent of the entire population.
He said, “That is why we keep telling labour to be realistic because the government cannot use all its resources to pay workers. They have other things to do. The workers we are even talking about are not up to 10 per cent of the population. Many people are self-employed or engaged in the private sector, are not members of Labour, and are not affected by this demand.
“This is even more reason why labour has to reconsider their decision critically instead of always striving to shut down the system. What the FG did was in consultation with the private sector and others. Only Labour, which appears to be in the minority, kept saying they won’t accept N62,000. They are not even employers but employees.
“Let us wait and hear what they are going to say after their return from the ILO conference. But they have to be realistic.”
