President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, appealed to organized labour to accept the ₦62,000 figure as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

The Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made this known in a post via X while sharing details of the meeting between the federal government and organized labour.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Joe Ajaero; his counterpart at the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, and other members of their delegation represented labour.

According to Onanuga, President Tinubu also questioned why wages have to be adjusted every five years and not two or three years.

The President, who led the government officials to the meeting, urged labour to accept the negotiated ₦62,000 as the first baby step in resolving the minimum wage issue. He suggested that further reviews can be done if the minimum wage law is reviewed.

‘Why must we adjust wages every five years? Why not two, why not three years? What is a problem today, can be eased up tomorrow“, he said.

Onanuga also confirmed that delegates for the meeting also received briefings on the state of the economy from the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari during the meeting.

The presidential media aide confirmed that labour is still insisting on a minimum monthly wage of N250,000.

The talks between the Federal Government and the central labour unions over the minimum wage were adjourned till next Thursday.