The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, on Tuesday made demands from the Federal Government amidst the minimum wage negotiations.

Ajaero, who was not in the meeting, said that he had left the country for a scheduled trade union engagement before the government’s invitation for the inauguration got to the NLC’s secretariat.

The NLC President, in his reaction to the vice president’s inauguration speech, said the essence of every negotiation was compromise.

He said, “However, the national minimum wage is a reflection of objective realities driven by existential issues, such as cost of food, beverages, housing, clothing, transport, communication, education, health care, etc.

”These and others are the factors that must determine the eventual outcome for it to have any meaning. You do not play give and take with the lives of workers and Nigerians.

“It must be based on what it costs the average Nigerian worker to survive or exist as a human being. That is where the compromise must be worked around, anything less than that makes the outcome less humane and reinforces poverty. The outcome must renew the hopes of Nigerians and not sabotage or betray it.

“My absence at the inauguration should not be an issue. The inauguration was just ceremonial and all the relevant stakeholders, including NLC leaders, were well represented at the inauguration.