MAN seeks FG’s Support to Pay New Minimum Wage

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the Federal Government to support the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in implementing the newly announced minimum wage.

MAN is seeking government assistance to address challenges facing businesses in the private sector, which were highlighted during tripartite negotiations.

In a statement issued, Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, mni urged the government to provide assistance to the private sector to meet the minimum wage requirements agreed upon with labour unions.

“As you are aware, the final outcome of the tripartite committee comprising the government, labour, and the private sector was a stalemate at N62,000 offered by the Federal Government and the private sector on the one hand, and N250,000 by labour on the other,” Ajayi-Kadir stated.

He emphasized the need for government intervention to address the challenges facing businesses, which could hinder their ability to comply with the new wage law.

Ajayi-Kadir added “We maintained that those binding constraints may constitute impediments to the full compliance of our member when the minimum wage is signed into law.”

Tinubu recently announced the approval of a N70,000 minimum wage and pledged to review the national minimum wage law every three years.

He also promised to assist the private sector and sub-nationals in meeting the wage requirements.

This decision follows prolonged negotiations between the government, labour unions, and the private sector.

Ajayi-Kadir expressed optimism about the positive developments and urged the private sector to hold on to Tinubu’s promise of support.

“We commend Mr. President for achieving this breakthrough and look forward to the promised assistance,” he said.

The MAN DG reiterated the importance of addressing the challenges faced by businesses to ensure compliance with the new wage law.

According to MAN DG “The assumption is that Mr. President will give expedited consideration to those challenges and take necessary steps to address them. This will go a long way in onboarding the private sector in the new agreement on the minimum wage.”

MAN presented a list of demands to the government, including “exemptions for SMEs and MSMEs from compliance due to their operational challenges, CBN redemptions of validly transacted outstanding forex forwards for companies in the productive sector, reversal of the increase in electricity tariffs or a 100% increase in tariffs for a minimum of 20 hours of supply, Duty exemption on imported conversion kits and government subsidy, Freeze on new taxes for five years, Fixed rate of N800 for import duty assessment on production inputs, Revisiting Financial Reporting Council regulation to exclude private businesses, and Discontinuation of Price Verification Portal.”