Tinubu expected to announce new national minimum wage on International Workers Day

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is expected to announce a new national minimum wage on May 1 in commemoration of the International Labour Day and backdate its implementation to April when he delivers his nationwide address.

Over recent months, Nigeria's National Minimum Wage Committee has been working on negotiations regarding a new rate to reflect current economic realities. Nigeria's current minimum wage of N30,000 a month is wholly inadequate, especially in the face of the hyper-inflation tearing the country apart, with labour unions asking for an increment that will guarantee a wage of N1m a month.

One committee member said: “By next week, the minimum wage committee will meet again. That is a meeting where all the reports from the zonal public hearings will be collated and reported and then, you know, that will also give the committee the direction to work with.

“Our target is to ensure that Mr President announces the minimum wage by the 1st of May, which is the Workers’ Day, for it to take effect from April. So, we are working to meet the timeline.”

One  presidential aide said President Tinubu might not wait for May 1 to announce the new minimum wage if the committee was able to complete its assignment as scheduled, noting that ordinarily, the new wage should come into effect on April 1. he added that if the two sides

He added: “I don’t think the government will be able to wait until May 1 before announcing the minimum wage as the law says it should be concluded by early April. If the parties agree, why do they have to wait to make the announcement? Because they are negotiating and the law says negotiations should be completed by April.”

Organised labour has warned state governors that it will not accept anything less than full implementation whenever the new minimum wage becomes law as it is ready to go into battle with such governors. Labour’s position is coming at a time when the governors are asking the National Minimum Wage Committee to consider each state’s peculiarities in arriving at an acceptable figure, even as the panel is compiling the reports of its public hearing in the different zones.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are unanimous in rejecting the governors’ position, warning that it is a recipe for prolonged industrial unrest. The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) had urged the National Minimum Wage Committee to take into account the present circumstances, unique characteristics of individual states and their ability to pay when determining the wage amount.