Wale Edu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, believes there is “no cause for alarm” in the continuing negotiations between Organised Labour and the Tripartite Committee on the country’s new minimum wage.
The minister made this statement after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday.
Edun and his Budget and Economic Planning counterpart, Atiku Bagudu, met with Tinubu after the President received a delegation from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank Group member led by Managing Director Makhtar Diop, at the Villa.
The IFC meeting has in attendance Edun; Bagudu; the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris; the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zaccheus Adedeji; and the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Ajuri Ngelale.
It was understood that after the meeting, the duo of Edun and Bagudu met with the President.
The President had on Tuesday given the finance minister a two-day deadline to come up with figures to be presented to the Organised Labour at the Tripartite Committee meeting on the new national minimum wage.
The President had also said he was committed to a wage above N60,000 while the TUC and the NLC said they weren’t fixated on their N494,000 demand.
Asked for updates on the new minimum wage template, Edun told reporters: “there is no cause for alarm”.
The Organised Labour suspended its indefinite strike on Tuesday after reaching an agreement with the Federal Government that negotiations should continue daily for one week until an agreement was reached for a new minimum wage for workers.