N56,000 minimum wage for upward review, says NLC

The N56,000 monthly minimum wage proposed by the labour movement in April this year would be reviewed upward, The Guardian has learnt.

Confirming the development, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, told our reporter yesterday in Abuja that the increase in the price of petrol from N87 to N145 per litre as well as the floating of the naira had resulted in hyper-inflation which would necessitate fresh computation of the figure.

“Clearly, the figure of N56,000 proposed in April of this year is no longer visible. There are a few developments that have happened since then. First, the price of petrol was moved to N145 from N87 and the flotation of the naira which have all resulted in hyper-inflation. Now, that has thrown up fresh challenges that have to be re-negotiated. Both the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have to meet again to compute the figures in strict observance.”

Also, Congress has denied reports that the committee on a new national minimum wage has commenced sitting.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja by NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in Abuja yesterday, he maintained that the committee was yet to be constituted by government and could not have begun sitting when its membership still remains unknown.

“How could a non-existent committee then have met? In light of the sensitive nature of the subject matter, this story is not only alarmist, it constitutes an unnecessary overheating of the polity. To the best of our knowledge, government accepted to set up two committees as a result of the major protest action by Labour following the increase in the pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145.”

The committees proposed by the Federal Government were those on palliatives and national minimum wage.

Their mandates were to make recommendations to government on how to cushion the harsh effects brought about by the hike as well as address other issues connected with the workings of the institutions in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, especially the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA.)