The Organised Labour has given the Federal Government May 31 deadline to determine the authentic new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
The workers’ body gave the deadline during the Workers’ Day celebrations at the Eagle Square in Abuja on Wednesday.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and his counterpart in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, unanimously said that the current N30,000 minimum wage had been grossly inadequate and not proportionate with the current economic realities and inflationary trend in the country.
They insisted that ₦615,000 must be approved by the President Bola Tinubu administration before the end of May.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress and the TUC have made it clear and emphatically that should the minimum wage negotiation continue and linger till the end of May, we can no longer guarantee industrial harmony in this country,” Ajaero,” said.
Osifo also asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and power distribution companies to immediately reverse the current increase in electricity tariff for Band A customers.
“The NLC and TUC hereby advise NERC and power sector operators to reverse the last increase in electricity tariff within the next one week,” he said.
Earlier, the Federal government had announced a 25 percent and 35 percent pay rise for the workers with effect from May 1.
But Ajaero described the gesture as mischievous.
“The announcement appears mischievous because there is no wage increment that the government is announcing,” Ajaero had said earlier on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
Ajaero said: “Living wage is such that will, at least keep you alive. It is not a wage that will make you poor and poorer. It is not a wage that will make you borrow to go to work. It is not a wage that will lead you to be in the hospital every day because of malnutrition. For that living wage, we have tried to look at N615,000
According to him, “the last minimum wage of N30,000 expired on April 18 and we should be in the regime of new minimum wage as of today. Discussions were supposed to have been concluded.”
“The Federal Government through the National Assembly legislated on it. But we saw that the discussion entered voice mail because the Federal Government refused to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned.
“I think the announcement now appears mischievous because there is no wage increase that the government is announcing. For them to announce it now, it is an issue that we are worried about at the NLC and even at the TUC.”
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 but the recommendations by the committee have not been implemented by the government.
While addressing Nigerian workers, the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said that the new increment would take effect from May 1. She however noted that although the Tripartite Committee On National Minimum Wage was yet to conclude its negotiations, workers would not lose anything.
She expressed regret that the new national minimum wage was not ready before the May Day celebrations, but that a wide consultation was ongoing to ensure that the document would be put together as soon as possible.
