Labour Places Fresh Demand For N615,000 Minimum Wage

Organised Labour has demanded N615,000 as the new minimum wage for workers to cope with the many economic realities and high cost of living in Nigeria.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) confirmed the development to Channels Television on Sunday.

The new wage of N615,000 monthly was reached after consultations between the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The labour unions said the current minimum wage of N30,000 can no longer cater for the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which will expire by April, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act is to be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.

The NLC and the TUC have at various times called on the administration of President Bola Tinubu to hasten the upward review of wage awards.

Earlier in January, the Federal Government inaugurated a 37-man Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage with a mandate to recommend a new National Minimum Wage for the country.

The NLC had announced N1m as the new minimum wage, due to the rising inflation in the country which had pushed many into poverty.

While the TUC demanded N447,000 as the new monthly minimum wage per worker, the NLC later requested N794,000 per worker. But it was gathered that the two unions, in a fresh proposal to the government, presented N615,000 as the new minimum wage for workers.

The unions said inflation — which stood at 31.70% as of February 2024 — has affected the cost of living for an average Nigerian worker, noting that state governors can afford to pay every public servant because they now get more monthly revenue allocation by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).