The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) President, Mr Festus Osifo, has said that the much-awaited new minimum wage may not be announced on May 1.

Osifo  said this while speaking with newsmen on Friday in Abuja.

”The negociation by the Tripartite Committee is still on going. If you remember, the TUC earlier submitted N447, 000 as the new minimum wage but we have harmonised our figure with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) .

“It is now N615,000. Regarding the when for the new minimum wage, the committee is still working.

“So, certainly, May 1, will not work for the pronouncement of the new minimum wage. Except if the Federal Government wants  to pay the minimum wage of N500, 000 to workers,”he said.

He  however  said that the N615,000 demanded by the organised labour is not sacrosanct.

”The government also has its markup and so conversations and negotiations will start and end somewhere, ‘he said.

He also noted that before organised labour arrived at that amount, a proper study was conducted.

”If you look at the N615. 000, you will think that the amount is right but at about the time we did that computation, a  dollar was about N1, 700.

”I am hopeful that the committee will meet after May 1,” he said.

NAN reports that the 37-member tripartite committee on minimum wage set up by the Federal Government  to continue further negotiations and consultations on the new minimum wage.

The National Minimum Wage Committee is chaired by former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Bukar Aji, with other members drawn from the Federal Government and State Governments, the Private Sector as well as the Organised Labour.

Shettima notes that though decisions made to salvage the economy remain inevitable, the Federal government is not oblivious of the short-term implications, assuring Nigerians of better days ahead

He urged the committee to be diligent and consult widely in arriving at a fair and decent wage that can alleviate the sufferings of the people.

The Nigerian Navy said it has made arrangements to relocate the Naval Training Command headquarters from Lagos to Onne in Rivers State.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, at Government House, Port Harcourt on Thursday.

He said, “The purpose of my coming here today is three-fold. The first is to inform His Excellency that on Saturday, we are graduating a set of former civilians who have been trained at our Basic Training School, Onne, and are graduating to join the ranks of the Nigerian Navy as ratings in order to beef up our strength.

“The second reason is to first appreciate the governor and the entire Rivers State government for the schools they donated to us: the Ambassador Nne Krukrubo Model Secondary School at Eleme in the Eleme Local Government Area, and the Model Secondary School, Egbelu in Oyigbo Local Government Area.

“We also want to use this opportunity to inform His Excellency that following that donation, and based on our strategic plan of moving our facilities to areas where we have enough space to be able to carry out our duties, we have renovated the school at Eleme.’’

“We are happy to report, today, that the erstwhile location of headquarters of Naval Training Command, Lagos, is moving to that particular school location in Eleme, tomorrow.”

Ogalla added that the Nigerian Navy, under his watch, had impounded 14 vessels caught with stolen crude oil, adding that several arrests were made.

Governor Fubara, in his response, encouraged the Nigerian Navy to be firm in the fight against all forms of economic sabotage, particularly crude oil theft, in the nation’s waterways.

The governor noted with delight the positive results already recorded by the Navy in the state due largely to the tremendous support it had received from his administration.

Fubara stated, “We are working together; we will give you all the support to make sure that you deliver on your mandate.

“And I am happy that they are positive and commendable records of achievement so far, in the course of your tenure.”

Fubara said the good news of the reduced level of oil theft in Rivers State is evidence of the many positive things that are happening in the State beyond the much-hyped negativity, and assured that such positive achievements will be sustained.

The Naira has slumped seven times in recent days against the US dollar at the foreign exchange.

FMDQ data showed that the Naira recorded a seventh drop against the Dollar, quoting N1309.88 per Dollar on Thursday from N1308.52 on Wednesday.

This represents a N1.36 loss on a day-to-day basis.

At the parallel market section, the Naira dropped between N1,300 and N1,370 on Thursday from between N1,250 and 1,300 the previous day.

In the last four days, Naira has recorded depreciation against the Dollar in the FX market.

Last week, the Naira dropped three times against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market.

Accordingly, the Naira had lost N237.14 since April 17, 2024 when it traded at N1,072.74 per Dollar at the FX market.

The development comes despite the Central Bank of Nigeria releasing 10,000 dollars each to BDC at N1,021 to a dollar with a caveat to sell at most 1.5 per cent above the bought price.

This is the third recent intervention for BDCs amid the bank’s effort to defend the Naira.

BDC operators blamed peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms like Binance for the recent depreciation of the Naira against the dollar in the foreign exchange market.