Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State, says the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage is close to reaching an agreement on a new national minimum wage.
He made the disclosure after leaving the committee meeting in Abuja on Friday.
The meeting lasted more than 12 hours.
“We had a very fruitful deliberation and of course you know it is a technical subcommittee of a committee.
“And at the level of the committee, we have reached near consensus and by the time we go to the plenary, we will have a complete agreement and maybe from there the media can start their job. As it is now, I think we are better of than we were,” Uzodimma said.
According to him, the committee just finished with their various unit meetings and has now proceeded to the plenary, where the committee is expected to harmonise their decisions and hopefully come up with a figure.
The organised labour rejected the N60,000 proposal and went on a nationwide strike on Monday.
The action was, however, suspended on Tuesday after the Federal Government promised to increase the minimum wage to an amount larger than N60,000 as they resumed negotiations.
The meeting, which is the fifth since the suspension of the industrial action by organised labour, is holding behind closed doors at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja.
Some prominent members of the committee are in attendance, including the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Minister of Labour and Employment (State), Nkiruka Onyejeocha, the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma; a representative of the Salaries, Income and Wages Commission; the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu.