During a closed-door meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and several Ministers regarding the planned industrial action, Senate President Godswill Akpabio highlighted that senators and House of Representatives members are also ‘labourers’.
Akpabio urged the union to consider the interests of Nigerians and the nation by postponing the proposed strike. He acknowledged the prolonged negotiations for a new minimum wage, involving a tripartite committee addressing various factors such as fuel subsidy removal and the time since the last wage increase.
Akpabio mentioned that the federal government had initiated a wage award of N35,000 while awaiting the outcome of the negotiations for a new minimum wage. This comes as NLC and TUC embarked on a strike following the government’s refusal to raise the minimum wage beyond N60,000, with labour demanding N494,000.
