The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the agreements earlier reached between negotiation teams of the federal government and the organised labour.
This is in fulfilment of the government’s team’s commitment to implementing all the agreements reached with the unions.
The Federal Government had signed an MOU with the organised labour to avert a proposed strike.
The Federal Government agreed to N35,000 salary award to federal civil servants from September, pending when a new national minimum wage is signed into law.
The parties also agreed that a minimum wage committee would be inaugurated within one month from the date of the agreement, while the collection of value-added tax on diesel would be suspended for six months beginning in October.
The government has also accepted to vote N100 billion for the provision of high high-capacity buses for mass transit, and an initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme will be provided, with effect from November 2023.
After the signing of the agreements last month, the unions threatened to go on strike without further notice if the government failed to implement them in 30 days’ time.
Briefing State House Correspondents on the approval, the Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, said: “We presented a memo from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Memo was basically on the agreement between the government and the labour.
“You are already aware that 15 items are part of the agreement. But we went beyond mere agreement, we told them that something different is happening because one part of the agreement is to file it in the court of law which we have set in motion already.
“The other was the presidential approval; there cannot be any presidential approval more than the Federal Executive Council.
“So, we presented them to the FEC. We analysed each and every aspect of the agreement and to show the genuineness and also provide for a harmonious and good industrial relationship and that was why it was presented, and it was approved for implementation.
“The Council also approved that within 30 days, we should go with the implementation of the agreement between labour and government.” (Agency reports)
The Council also approved that within 30 days, we should go with the implementation of the agreement between labour and government.