The federal government and organised labour failed to reach an agreement on the new national minimum wage after extensive deliberations on Friday.

This development follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive earlier in the week to Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to devise a new minimum wage and its cost implications, which was presented to labour leaders at the previous meeting.

The tripartite committee, established to harmonise decisions, stated that after examining the national minimum wage with all necessary parameters—social, economic, and political considerations, and adhering to relevant ILO conventions and international best practices—it concluded that an upward review of the current wage is necessary.

Consequently, it recommended N62,000 per month as the new national minimum wage, a figure agreed upon by the government and the Organised Private Sector (OPS), with policy incentives and other conditions provided by states and the OPS. However, organised labour maintained their demand for N250,000 per month.