The ongoing negotiations for a new minimum wage have deadlocked following the inability of the Federal Government and organised labour to reach a consensus.

The President’s media aide, Mr Bayo Onanuga, in an interview, faulted workers’ insistence on the N615,000 minimum wage, updating that the government and labour unions had not agreed on the amount for the minimum wage.

But the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, defended workers’ demand, insisting that the organised labour would not accept any amount that would impoverish its members.

Top officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said government and the private sector were proposing between N60,000 and N70,000, resulting in a stalemate in negotiations with labour.