NLC, TUC Want ₦540,000, ₦447,000 Minimum Wage Rates

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), operating within the south east zone, have shown varying stances on the precise sum for the negotiated new minimum wage.

Naija News reports that the NLC and TUC have put forward minimum wage proposals of ₦540,000 and ₦447,000, respectively, with both unions concurring on the need for legislation to mandate wage reviews every two years instead of the current five-year interval.

Speaking for his colleagues in the South East zone at the public hearing organized by The Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage in Enugu, Fabian Nwigbo, the Enugu state NLC chairman, observed that the old ₦30,000 minimum wage was not implemented by all states.

According to Vanguard, Nwigbo criticized the low level of Nigeria’s minimum wage, which is under eight percent of the figures seen in other African countries, emphasizing that the proposal for the ₦30,000 came at a time in 2019 when both commodity and fuel prices were considerably less than current levels.

“Rice, Garri and other food items are now high and minimum wage is still ₦30,000. So we’re asking the leaders to consider the plight of Nigerians. In a family of six their breakfast cannot be anything less than ₦2,000 which translates to about ₦300,000 per month. If you include housing, social activities and other bills, one would be looking at over ₦500,000 per month. So it should be ₦540,000 per month as minimum wage.

“Our representatives should impeach any Governor that violates the law and pensioners should be beneficiaries of the new wage,” Nwigbo said.

Enugu state’s TUC chairman, Comrade Ben Asogwa, representing his colleagues from the south east, stated the necessity of a wage increase due to the current economic conditions in the country.

Asogwa said, “We can’t bear the suffering again, we believe that the needful should be done, we’re disappointed that the Governors are not here. We have seen that five years is a long time for the review and so we have proposed that the minimum wage should be reviewed in every two years.

“We are also saying that the law should reflect that any Governor who is not ready to pay the minimum wage law should vacate his office and not the fine of ₦250,000 as recommended by the law. 

“TUC is looking forward to the possibility of for implementation of the wage and we can’t give a different proposal from what the national leadership of the TUC has made and so we affirm that the least we can take is ₦447,000 given every economic indices. The South East stands on it and is waiting for the President to append his signature.“