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The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has pushed for payment of a new minimum wage of ₦200,000 monthly for Federal civil servants to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy on petrol.

i-News reported that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have suspended their strike, originally planned for Wednesday.

The decision followed the meeting between representatives from the federal government and the organised labour at the Presidential Villa on Monday evening.

Before the suspension of the proposed strike, the TUC tabled various issues before the federal government including a proper review of the current salary structure.

The Union stressed that the upward adjustment of the minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦200,000 will help to cushion the effects of the current economic situation especially on high cost of living including feeding, transport and housing.

In a statement the President and Secretary General, Festus Osifo and Nuhu Toro, respectively, TUC said: “For immediate implementation: Status quo ante of PMS pump price should be maintained while discussion continues. The minimum wage should be increased from the current N30,000 to N200,000 before the end of June 2023, with consequential adjustments on the cost of living allowance, COLA, like feeding, transport, housing, etc.

“A representative of state governors will be party to this communiqué and all the governors must commit to implement the new minimum wage.

“Tax holiday for employees both in government and private sector that earn less than N200,000 or 500USD monthly whichever is higher. PMS allowance to be introduced for those earning between N200,000 and N500,000 or 500USD to 1,200USD whichever is higher.

“The exchange rate for retailing PMS in the country must be kept within a limit of two per cent for the next 10 years where the fluctuation is more than two per cent, the minimum wage will automatically increase at the same rate.

“Setting up of intervention fund where the government will be paying N10 per litre on all locally consumed PMS. The primary purpose of this fund is to solve perennial and protracted national issues in education, health and housing. A governance structure that will include labour, civil society and government will be put in place to manage the implementation.

The TUC also called for the provision of a subsidised transportation system to ease the pressure on Nigerians workers .

“Federal government should provide mass transit vehicles for all categories of the populace. State governments should immediately set up a subsidized transportation system to reduce the pressure on workers and students. The framework around this will be worked out.

“Immediate review of the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover more Nigerians and prevent stock of drugs.

“Visitation of the refineries that are currently undergoing rehabilitation to ascertain the state of work and setting up a timeline for its completion.

“The president should direct whoever will be labour minister to immediately constitute the National Labour Advisory Council, NLAC. This platform will be used by the government, labour and employers to discuss issues and policies of the government that may affect workers and all other mandates as specified in the law.

“Provision of subsidy directly for food items, the $800million could be a first step. The existing National Housing Fund, NHF, should be made accessible to genuine workers; the framework on this must be discussed and agreed.”

TUC also said the medium term would include the “deployment of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, across the country, in line with the earlier promise made by the government. The framework and timeline will be developed and agreed by both parties.

“Labour and government to design a framework that will be geared towards the reduction of cost of governance by 15 per cent in 2024 and 30 per cent by 2025.

“A framework should be immediately put in place to maintain roads and expand the rail networks across the country. Government must design a framework for social housing policy for workers through a rent-to-own system.

“The state of electricity in the country must be appraised and an action plan should be defined with timelines on how to get this fixed.”