The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said governors can pay a minimum wage above N60,000 if they cut down on the high cost of governance and corruption in their states.
This is according to NLC spokesperson, Benson Upah, in a statement released on Friday night.
Upah said Labour condemned the statement by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government was not sustainable.
Reacting to the statement by the NGF, Upah said Labour is alarmed that state governments cannot even afford to pay N60,000 as minimum wage because a few states will end up borrowing to pay workers every month.
The spokesperson said Labour believe the governors have acted in bad faith and it is unheard of for such a statement to be issued to the world in the middle of an ongoing negotiation which puts it in bad taste.
“As for the veracity of their claim, nothing can be further from the truth as FAAC allocations have since moved from N700 billion to N1.2 trillion. making the governments extremely rich at the expense of the people,” the statement read.
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“All that the governors need to do to be able to pay a reasonable national minimum wage (not even the N60,000) is cut on the high cost of governance, minimise corruption as well as prioritise the welfare of workers.
“It is important to explain here that a national minimum wage is not synonymous with the different pay structures of different states. The national minimum wage is the lowest floor below which no employer is allowed to pay. The aim is to protect the weak and the poor.
“We are not fixated with figures but value. Those who argue that moving the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N60,000 is sufficiently good enough miss the point. In 2019, when N30,000 became the minimum, N300 exchanged for $1 (effectively making the minimum wage an equivalent of $100 or thereabout) while inflation rate was 11.40.
“At the moment the exchange rate is at N1,600 to $1 while inflation hovers at 33.7% (40% for food). This puts the value of the minimum wage at $37.5 for a family of six. This is happening at a time costs of everything rose by more than 400% as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy. This is extremely bad news for the poor.”
He noted that the government’s policies of fuel subsidy removal, mindless devaluation of the Naira, energy tariff hike by 250% and interest rate hike by 26.5% will continue to hurt the economy (especially manufacturing sector) and the poor.
“Already manifest is the mass incapacity of Nigerians leading to overflowing warehouses of the productive sector of the economy. The downward trend will continue except the capacity of workers and businesses is enhanced.”
He noted that paying a miserable national minimum wage portends grave danger to not only the workforce but the national economy as in truth, economies of most states are driven by workers’ wages, urging the governors to do a re-think and save the country from a certain death.
