Organised labour urges Tinubu to approve minimum wage of no less than N250,000

NIGERIAN trade unions have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to set the new minimum wage at N250,000 ($165) per month so it reflects the present inflationary trend in the country and allows workers to live meaningful lives.

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 ($21) 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 workers are paid a living wage.

Earlier this month, the governors of Nigeria's 36 states under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), rejected a proposed N60,000 minimum wage by the federal government, saying they could not afford it. This subsequently led to organised labour comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to warn that industrial action may now resume if no solution is found.

Government proposals have now been submitted to President Tinubu and he is expected to make a decision on the matter soon. However, Chris Onyeka,  the NLC assistant general secretary, described proposals of N60,000 and N100,000 as starvation wages, insisting that labour will not accept them, pointing out that its latest demand as the living wage for an average Nigerian worker remains ₦250,000.

Prince Adewale Adeyanju, a member of the organised labour negotiating team in the Tripartite Committee of the New National Minimum Wage and president of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, accused state governors of stalling efforts at achieving a reasonable wage for public workers. He said: “If you are an employer of labour and you do not have the love of your workers in your heart, how do you call yourself an employer of labour?

”We started having issues at the negotiating table where they were dragging from N30,000 to N48,000 and to N60,000. They were pricing as if it were tomatoes and onions before they now finally came out and said N62,000.

”Even before they arrived at N62,000 organised labour was still coming down so that we could be on the same page. Yes, the country is not smiling. We all know what the harsh economic situation is and the workers have not been happy with the downturn. At the close of negotiations, we had two position papers; one from government and organised private sector sides that recommended N62,000 and N250,000 from the labour side which includes the TUC and NLC.

“The ball now lies on the table of Mr President who I believe has an opportunity to show empathy to workers. This minimum wage comes up every five years and between now and five years time, what is going to be the impact of the new minimum wage on the lives of the workers in their various working places.

”That is why we are appealing to him as a friend of workers who persistently promised to give them a living wage to approve the N250,000. Nothing stops him from approving it but we heard that he said he would only approve what is what the economy can afford.

"As organised labour, we all are citizens of this country and we know the economy can afford our demand. We plead that he should not listen to those greedy governors who want to pay slave wage to continue to maintain their outrageous and ostentatious lifestyle.

"The security vote that they are getting is enough to pay that minimum wage. What are they doing with their security votes? Which security are they providing to the citizens? Some of the governors, the likes of Edo State, have been paying 70,000.”