Labour unions in the country have proposed a minimum wage of $300 (that is N456,000 at N1,520 per dollar) for Nigerian workers ahead of negotiations on the new national minimum wage.
Chairman, Trade Union Side, Joint Meeting of the National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Comrade Benjamin Anthony, made this proposal at the 2023 meetings of the Separate and Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council held in Goshen City, Nasarawa State, on Tuesday.
The union maintained that the current minimum wage of N30,000 has since become inadequate going by the high exchange rate coupled with the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy which has translated into the high cost of living in the country, hence the demand for a new wage.
Anthony, who was represented by the Secretary of the Union, Comrade Boma Mohammed, also expressed displeasure at the recent delays in the payment of salaries by the Federal Government to workers, saying the trend must be stopped and avert the repeat of such things as the suffering in the land, which is already unbearable.
“In light of the above, Labour has proposed a Living Wage of $300 (N456,000) for Nigerian Workers. This is due to the fall in the value of our currency, today if you carry N100,000 to the market you will come back with a leather bag of items,” he said.
“We call on the government to immediately pay the arrears of the N35,000 wage award along with the current and expedited action on the process of getting a new living wage to bring succour to the working class people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said most governors of the 37-member Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage are not complying with the proposed base pay structure.
Ajaero stated this in an interview on ChannelsTV Politics Today on Tuesday.
Recall that Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the committee in Abuja earlier on Tuesday, saying the decision was aimed at ensuring a decent living wage and in compliance with the existing National Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which will expire in a few months.
”Most of the governors in the minimum wage committee are those who are not paying minimum wage or paying them in breaches,” Ajaero said.
“The governors who are in full compliance with the minimum wage are not adequately represented, so whatever made the Federal Government bring in those who are not compliant or compliant in breaches to form the bulk of the membership of the minimum wage committee from the state government that will unfold with time,” he added.
