The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has given details on why it pegged the demanded value for the new minimum wage at N447,000 monthly, calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately increase the wage value from the subsisting N30,000 to N447,000.
The Union mentioned that the upgrade was necessary as a means of containing the current economic hardship ravaging the country, as well as fostering the morale and productivity of Nigerian workers.
In a memo signed by its Secretary General, Nuhu A. Toro, TUC called for an urgent need of an upward review of the current minimum wage, stressing that the N30,000 minimum wage has become very unrealistic and inadequate such that it can no longer meet the basic needs of an average Nigerian worker considering the current economic situation in the country.
“We urgently need an increased wage to protect workers not only from employers’ exploitation, but also from economic vicissitudes affecting Nigerian society,” the union said.
“With the setting up of the Tripartite committee to handle the negotiation for a new minimum wage for Nigeria by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it has become imperative for the process to be fast tracked to enable workers to breathe a sigh of relief considering the excruciating conditions they are forced to live with daily,” the union added.
Further justifying their intent for an urgent need to increase the national minimum wage, TUC gave the following reasons which include:
“Foreign Exchange Rate Volatility and its consequences occasioned by the high concentration of imported goods over our locally made products. Here they said that from 2019, a dollar exchanged from 325 naira to over 1,500 naira today.
“Removal of fuel subsidy and increase in price of petrol from N145 Naira for a liter in 2019, to over N600 Naira for a liter in 2024 which has led to a rapid increase in almost all basic things like accommodation, transportation fee, food stuffs, school fees, utility bills among others.
“Increase in Electricity tariff from 32.50k per unit in 2019, to over N46 Naira per unit currently.
“Inflation rates will rise to about 29 percent in January, 2024.
“Low minimum wage in comparison to other African countries.”
The Union noted that with the N30,000 Naira minimum wage, Nigeria has the lowest monthly (20$) and annually (240$) minimum wage payment compared to other African contemporaries like Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco, Libya and even Seychelles which currently boast of a higher minimum wage payments than Nigeria.
TUC, however, noted that the proposed N447 Naira minimum wage will give Nigerian workers a minimum level of comfort that will enable them cope with the current biting economic hardship which has turned majority of them into beggars, and will also narrow the widening gap of poverty among the employed, and mitigate the erosion of living standard of Nigerian workers.
Recall that the last minimum wage review was done during the last administration and signed into law by former President Mohamadu Buhari on the 26th of April, 2019, and Section 3(4) of the National minimum wage Act states that “The national wage agreement expires after five years, which is April, 2024, and shall be reviewed in line with this Act”.
Last week, public hearings to set a new minimum wage in the Country witnessed divergent submissions from Labour unions in the geo-political zones of the Federation.
Recently, the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Jeo Ajaero, had said if the situation waxed worse, the NLC might be forced to place a demand of N1million as minimum wage for workers.
The organised Labour has been in a struggle with the Government on the present conditions of hardship which was recently worsened by the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.
Organised Labour had recently staged a protest against the failure of the Federal Government to honour the agreements it struck on the measures to cushion the hardship on the part of workers.
President Bola Tinubu had last week derided organised Labour, stating that staging four protests in about nine months of his government was uncalled for, daring them to meet his government at the polls in 2027 if they choose not to cooperate with the administration.
President Tinubu, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, had earlier inaugurated a 37-member panel on the new minimum wage in the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja on January 30, 2024.
The committee had scheduled March 7 for public hearings in all the six geo-political zones in the country.
At the commencement of public hearings to consider a new minimum wage last Thursday, views by the arms of the NLC and other affiliate unions were divergent as to the value of pay to set the minimum wage.
For instance, the NLC in the Southwest geo-political zone placed a demand of N794,000 as the new national minimum wage for workers.
The chairperson of the Lagos State chapter of the NLC, Funmi Sessi, made the demand during her presentation at the ongoing public hearing of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in Ikeja, Lagos, the State Capital.
Sessi had noted that the demand was jointly agreed on by all the members of the union in the South West.
In the Southeast, the NLC, and the TUC differed in views on the value that the new minimum wage should be pegged at.
While the NLC submitted N540,000 for the new minimum wage; the TUC proposed a sum of N447,000.
While the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the NLC, proposed N709,000 as new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, the TUC demanded N447,000.
In the Northwest, the NLCÂ proposed a pay value of N485,000 as the new minimum wage for workers.
The organised Labour at the respective zones lamented absence of Governors at the hearings, following recourse to the last minimum wage review to N30,000 which Labour has consistently lamented many State Governors failed to implement.
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