Minimum wage: Court gives FG, labour till Jan 30 to submit report on negotiations

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria , in Abuja, on Thursday ordered both the Federal Government and the organised labour to submit a report of their negotiations on the disputes over the new minimum wage by January 30 , 2019.Justice Sanusi Kado had on November 2 , 2018 adjourned the case till Thursday after issuing an ex parte order stopping the strike which the labour had planned to commence on November 6 .

The strike was however averted after an agreement was reached on November 5 between the labour and the Federal Government with N 30 , 000 recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari as the new minimum wage regime .

At the resumed hearing in the case on Thursday , the three defendants – the National Labour Congress , the Trade Union Congress and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum – were absent and were also not represented by any lawyer .

But the plaintiffs – the Federal Government and the Attorney -General of the Federation , Mr . Abubakar Malami – were represented by their legal team led by Mr . Emmanuel Omonowa .

Following the absence of the defence teams in court on Thursday , Omonowa informed the judge that based on the order made by the court on November 2 , negotiations on the new minimum wage were ongoing .

He, therefore , pleaded with the court to give more time to the parties in the suit to enable them to continue with the negotiations and later give a report on the negotiation efforts to the court .

“Pursuant to Order 42 ( 1 ) of the National Industrial Court Rules , the court should allow parties to see the possibility of amicable settlement of the matter , ” Omonowa said.

Following Omonowa ’ s request , Justice restated his November 2 order restraining the labour from embarking on the planned strike and warned all the parties to the suit against taking any step that cause disruptions in the case .

He then adjourned till January 30 , 2019, for the parties to report to the court on whether or not they had settled amicably or would still be interested in going on with the case .

Justice Kado had on November 2 , in a ruling on an ex parte application moved on behalf of the Federal Government by the Solicitor -General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary , Federal Ministry of Justice , Mr . Dayo Apata , stopped the labour from embarking on their planned strike scheduled to commence on November 6 .

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