The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have turned down the government’s offer of ₦60,000 as the new minimum wage for workers. This marks a shift from their earlier demand of ₦497,000 last week to ₦494,000.
A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for negotiating a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, according to Channels Television, said that the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) proposed a ₦60,000 monthly minimum wage on Tuesday, up from the ₦57,000 they proposed last week.
The government and the OPS initially proposed ₦48,000 and ₦54,000 last week, which were also rejected by Organised Labour.
The negotiations remain deadlocked, as today’s meeting ended without an agreement on a new minimum wage. This stalemate persists just three days before the May 31 deadline given by the labour unions for the government to conclude the negotiations.
The labour unions argue that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 is insufficient for the average Nigerian worker’s well-being, noting that not all governors are paying the current wage, which expired in April 2024. The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, mandates a review every five years to meet the contemporary economic demands of workers.
NLC President Joe Ajaero described the government’s fresh proposals as “unsubstantial.” “It is still not substantial compared to what we need to make a family move,” Ajaero said of the current ₦30,000 wage.
“The economy of the workers is totally destroyed. In fact, the workers don’t have any economy. I think there are two economies in the country: the economy of the bourgeoisie and the economy of the workers. I think we have to harmonise this so that we can have a meeting point,” Ajaero stated.
