News have it that the Federal Government of Nigerian has denied entering into an agreement with the labour Union of Nigeria to increase the minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000. 

Just yesterday Tuesday, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, was quoted to have said that the Federal Government and the Labour leaders had agreed on N30,000 as the new minimum wage which will soon be announced.

But the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, while speaking with state house correspondents after the Federal Executive Council, denied the report. According to Ngige, the Federal government has proposed to pay N24,000 as minimum wage while state governors are proposing N20, 000.

According to Ngige, when the Federal government and the labor unions met to deliberate on the new minimum wage on October 5, after the NLC had called off its nationwide strike, “the organised labour came down to N30,000, the organised private sector came down to N25,000”.

Ngige said the government had to consult with the 36 state governors and after the consultations, the FG proposed N24,000, while governors proposed N20,000.

He said the government was still consulting and negotiations is ongoing.