The lingering feud between the Nigerian government and organized labour on the minimum wage saga may not have an end soon as the government has insisted that it will not pay a dime above the N62,000 it had proposed despite labour pegging its demand at N250,000.

A statement from the Presidency on Sunday stated in clear terms that the N250,000 minimum wage clamour by Organised Labour was unsustainable, warning that the Federal Government could not channel all its resources to meet such a demand.

The position of the Nigerian government is coming after the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) also raised concerns over the amount being proposed by the FG in the face of escalating inflation and high cost of living.

ALGON, had, in a statement, said if approved, the wage may put a strain on the councils’ financial burden.

Several rounds of talks between government and labour leaders have stalled as the Tripartite Committee set up to negotiate on behalf of government has failed to reach a compromise with labour.

The labour unions have described the proposal as an insult to the intelligence of the average Nigerian worker, whom they say deserve far better than what the government offered.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in an interview, disclosed that unless the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were selfish, they should consider that the resources meant for the entire Nigerians could not be channeled to only the benefit of their members who are not more than 10 per cent of the entire population.

“That is why we keep telling labour to be realistic because the government cannot use all its resources to pay workers. They have other things to do. The workers we are even talking about are not up to 10 per cent of the population.

“Many people are self-employed or engaged in the private sector, who are not members of Labour, and are not affected by this demand.

“This is even more reason why labour has to reconsider their decision critically instead of always striving to shut down the system. What the FG did was in consultation with the private sector and others.

“Only Labour, which appears to be in the minority, kept saying they won’t accept N62,000. They are not even employers but employees.

“Let us wait and hear what they are going to say after their return from the ILO conference. But they have to be realistic,” Onanuga reiterated.

Onanuga added that the Federal Government might not meet the Labour leaders again unless something cogent turned up.

“I am not sure whether the FG is meeting with them or whether its position on the minimum wage has changed. Don’t forget the current amount on the table was arrived at by the committee that also has the private sector where the NECA and NACIMMA were also represented.

“That was the figure the FG delegation, sub-nationals, employers, NECA and other sectors agreed on. So, the FG cannot just decide on any other amount of money on its own without carrying these people along.

“And the government cannot just decide anything without ensuring that the state and local governments are able to pay,” he said.