Yesterday’s deliberation on minimum wage between the federal government and Organised Labour hit a brick wall when government failed to shift grounds on the N60,000 it proposed during the last meeting.

With this latest move, organised labour comprising Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, may embark on a nationwide strike.

It would be recalled that NLC and TUC had given a May 31 ultimatum on the new minimum wage.

As of the time of filing this report, an emergency press briefing has been called by labour.

On Tuesday, talks between the federal government and organised Labour broke down after government and organised private sector raised their offers to N60,000.

The government added N3,000 to its initial offer of N57,000 proposed last week, taking the total figure to N60,000.

It was dismissed by labour at the meeting.

At the meeting, labour again lowered its demand by removing N3,000 from the N497,000 it proposed last week, pegging the new proposal at N494,000.

To fast-track the negotiation process, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria on May Day gave the committee till the end of the month to wrap up talks on a new national minimum wage.

That ultimatum will expire on Friday night.

President of TUC, Festus Osifo said the ultimatum issued by labour remained following the breakdown of talks on Tuesday.

“We have an ultimatum on May Day that if by May end, we don’t have a new minimum wage that will take a worker home, we will not be able to guarantee industrial peace.

“We are sticking to that ultimatum,” the president of the TUC, Osifo said.

President Tinubu, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, on January 30 inaugurated the 37-member tripartite committee to come up with a new minimum wage.

With its membership cutting across federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel is to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country.

Shettima, during the committee’s inauguration, urged the members to “speedily” arrive at a resolution and submit their reports early.

“This timely submission is crucial to ensure the emergence of a new minimum wage,” Shettima said.

He also urged collective bargaining in good faith, emphasising contract adherence and encouraging consultations outside the committee.

The 37-man committee is chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji.

By Charles Ebi 

Nigerian Communication Commission ,NCC, has said it is working towards achieving a 50% improvement in the quality of services ,QoS, in the telecommunications industry by the end of this year. 

The Commission said this in a statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, where it highlighted activities of the telecom regulator in the first year of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. 

According to NCC, the 50% QoS improvement is one of the targets set by the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani and the Commission is working towards realising this goal. 

NCC said other targets in Tijani’s Strategic Agenda 2023, include boosting Nigeria’s broadband penetration rate to 70% by the end of 2025; delivering a data download speed of 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas by the end of 2025; and providing coverage for, at least, 80% of the country’s population, especially the underserved and unserved populations by the end of 2026. 

Other targets include to reduce the gap of unconnected Nigerians in rural areas from 61% to less than 20% by 2027 and to secure between 300% to 500% increase in broadband investment by the end of 2027.  

Highlighting how the NCC is driving improvement in the quality of telecom services, the regulator stated: 

“The Commission, under Dr. Aminu Maida, rather than taking a national outlook on data collection for quality of service delivery, has adopted an approach where more granular data is collected from operators and analysed to determine quality of service at very small, local levels,  to allow the deployment of optimised solutions or regulatory actions where needed.  

“Maida’s approach focuses on ensuring that the consumers receive an enhanced Quality of Experience, beyond the narrow and very technically-evaluated Quality of Service”.

“Quality of experience takes into account all touch points along the consumer’s journey in using telecom services from selection, through onboarding, usage, support and even off-boarding.  

This means that consumers are empowered to make the right network selection, enjoy a seamless onboarding into the network of their choice, enjoy quality service at fair costs, receive responsive customer service and enjoy protected off-boarding where they choose to leave the network”, the Commission added. 

To address consumer complaints on data depletion, the Commission said it has directed Mobile Network Operators ,MNOs, to conduct an independent audit of their billing systems and is concluding a consultation process to simplify tariff plans.  It said these initiatives would provide enhanced transparency to the consumer.  

On the side of the industry and licensees of the Commission, the telecom regulator said Maida’s focus is aimed at forging a resilient industry and enhancing the delivery of regulatory services.  

It added that the Commission has also embarked on critical advocacy initiatives to address long-term challenges in the sector, including advocacy for designating telecom infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, as well as successfully persuading over six states to waive Right of Way ,RoW, fees, even as it initiates discussions with more states.