The Federal Government has promised to adjust the salaries of Nigerian workers, to conform with the present economic realities in the country.
The Minister of Labour And Employment, Senator Chris Ngige made the promise in Abuja, at the Public Presentation of the NLC at forty Publication, the “Contemporary History of Working Class Struggles”.
Ngige said, the current inflation is a world wide crisis and not only a Nigerian dilemma.
He said that, although they inserted a provision in the 2019 minimum wage Act to review wages either next year or 2024, the federal government has started the review with the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Ngige said, “The inflation is worldwide, we shall adjust the minimum wage in conformity with what is happening and much more important, the 2019 Minimum Wage Act has a new clause for a review.
“That adjustment has started with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), because the stage they are with their primary employers, the Ministry of Education, is a Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA, negotiations.
On the continuous closure of Nigerian universities by ASUU members, he said that the Federal Government did not take ASUU to court.
He said, it would have been failure in his part if the issue was not officially reported to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) after seven months of protracted discussions and negotiations with the union, which failed.
He recalled that ASUU was at the stage of Collective Bargaining (CBA) negotiation with their employers, the Federal Ministry of Education when they embarked on strike.
“There are laws guiding strike. There are ILO principles on right to strike. Nobody can take it away.
”But, there are things that follow it when you embark on strike as a worker and they are enshrined in the laws of our land.
“It is written in Trade Dispute Act. The ILO principles of strike talks about the right of a worker to withdraw services. There is also right to picket. These are things that are done”.
