Abuja, June 12, 2024 – President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday assured Nigerians that a New Minimum Wage Bill will soon be sent to the National Assembly.
He gave the assurance in a nationwide broadcast on the anniversary of Democracy Day.
He said the federal government, the labour unions and the organised private sector had reached a consensus after a long-debated new minimum wage.
“In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage.
“We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.”
“In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
“No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution. Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy.
“These themes shall continue to animate my policies and interaction with the constituent parts of our political economy.
“I take on this vital task without fear or favour and I commit myself to this work until we have built a Nigeria where no man is oppressed. In the end, our national greatness will not be achieved by travelling the easy road. It can only be achieved by taking the right one.
“The words of the American President Franklin Roosevelt certainly ring true: There are many ways of going forward. But only one way of standing still”
“We dare not slumber lest the good things awaiting our immediate future pass us by. We dare not plant our feet in an idle standstill in the middle of the intersection of hope and despair.
“We know the proper way forward and we shall take it! The initial rays of a brighter tomorrow now appear on the early horizon.
“An abundant future and our capacity to achieve that future lie within our reach. Democracy and the institutions it begets offer to take us to our profound destination,” Tinubu said.
