FG Moves To Set New Minimum Wage
The Federal Government has commenced background consultations ahead of fresh negotiations on a new national minimum wage.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr Kamil Shoretire, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja.
Shoretire was speaking at a capacity-building workshop organised for labour correspondents.
He said the government had not yet fixed a date for the formal commencement of the new minimum wage negotiations, but consultations were already taking place behind the scenes.
“We are yet to announce the timetable for that, but background discussions are already ongoing. When it’s time to get the press involved in what has been proposed and what is being negotiated, it will be revealed to you,” he said.
The development comes amid growing pressure from organised labour for a review of the N70,000 national minimum wage approved by the Federal Government in 2024.
The current minimum wage was introduced after the government increased the statutory wage from N30,000 to N70,000. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had said the implementation of the new wage would be backdated to April 1, 2024.
Labour groups have, however, continued to argue that rising living costs have reduced the purchasing power of the N70,000 wage, increasing pressure for another review.
On Monday, the Trade Union Side of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council called for the immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new national minimum wage ahead of January 2027. The workers also demanded an upward review of salaries and allowances and an immediate wage award.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has backed the workers’ demands, including the call for a N500,000 minimum wage and a reduction in petrol prices to N500 per litre.
The Federal Government has not, however, announced any figure for a new minimum wage.
Shoretire said the ongoing consultations were broader than the minimum wage issue, explaining that the government was also engaging workers in sectors where disputes over salaries and allowances remained unresolved.
“Various discussions with health, education and other sectors that have lots of issues in terms of wages and allowances are ongoing and they are being fast-tracked so that the ones that are agreed will reflect in next year’s budget,” he stated.
The Permanent Secretary also provided an update on the labour dispute taken before the International Labour Organisation by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
He said the Federal Government had met the September 1 deadline given by the ILO to respond to outstanding issues contained in the complaint filed by the labour union.
“Let me start with the ILO. We have met the deadline. We have responded to the request from ILO. I was there when a complaint was filed by the NLC against the Nigerian government at the ILO on some of the labour issues that are yet to be resolved in the country.
“We responded at the ILO, but we also got that certain areas were not addressed or were pending. So those ones were the ones that we got a deadline on September 1, and we have responded accordingly.”
The NLC had taken its complaint to the ILO over alleged violations of workers’ rights under the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, also known as Convention No. 98.
The union alleged that workers’ rights had been violated and claimed that some trade union leaders had faced threats, assault, intimidation and victimisation. It asked the relevant ILO committee to find Nigeria in breach of provisions covering protection against anti-union discrimination and collective bargaining.
Shoretire said it was within the rights of workers’ organisations to seek the intervention of the ILO when they believed that issues between them and government were not being adequately resolved.
He also addressed the status of the wage award, saying the arrangement remained in place and that the Federal Government had not issued any directive for its stoppage.
The official further disclosed that additional incentives for workers and other citizens would be announced in the coming weeks, although he did not provide details on the nature or value of the incentives.
The latest development comes as political parties and presidential candidates also make competing proposals on wages ahead of the 2027 general election.
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, recently proposed a N500,000 monthly living minimum wage if elected president.
Sowore said his proposed wage would form part of a broader programme that would include uninterrupted electricity, free education, affordable housing, healthcare and expanded social protection.
“Our agenda is revolutionary justice and equal rights. Nigeria is enormously wealthy, yet Nigerians have been deliberately impoverished through corruption, incompetence and an economic system designed to reward a tiny political and business elite. We intend to change that fundamentally,” Sowore said.
“We are proposing a ₦500,000 monthly living minimum wage because Nigerian workers cannot continue receiving starvation wages while senators, governors and political appointees consume millions every month.”
He also promised the construction of one million public mixed-income homes and proposed changes to tenancy regulations to reduce the burden of large advance rent payments on workers.
“We will embark on the construction of one million public mixed income homes while reforming tenancy laws so that working people are not forced to pay one or two years of rent in advance. Healthcare must become a right, not a privilege reserved for people who can afford medical tourism,” he said.
Sowore further said an AAC government would pursue industrialisation, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development and job creation, while reforming the security system and strengthening the use of technology in tackling insecurity.
