The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked for a N500,000 national minimum wage, saying the current N70,000 wage has lost value amid rising food and transportation costs.
NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, made the demand yesterday, urging Nigerian workers to seek a wage that reflects their real purchasing power rather than a nominal figure.
Ajaero said workers now need a “maximum wage” rather than a minimum wage because of the prevailing economic hardship.
According to him, the value of workers’ earnings should be measured by what they can afford with their wages.
“Workers’ demands must reflect real purchasing power, not nominal amounts,” Ajaero said.
He accused the federal government of benefiting from the recent surge in fuel prices while workers and other Nigerians continue to face higher transportation costs, rising food prices and declining purchasing power.
Ajaero illustrated the impact of inflation by comparing the value of N70,000 with the cost of essential commodities.
“Assuming one naira is equal to $1, I would advise Nigerian workers to remain at ₦70,000 because that would be big money for them, but you can see that you can equally get one million naira and a bag of rice is ₦500,000, so what of that? What happens?” he said.
The NLC president’s demand comes as the federal government announced plans to introduce a new national minimum wage to reduce the economic hardship faced by Nigerian workers.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr Kamil Shoretire, had disclosed that the government was working towards announcing a new national minimum wage.
Shoretire said discussions were already ongoing between the government and other stakeholders on the proposed wage.
He said the government had yet to fix a date for formal negotiations but was working towards reaching an agreement.
“We are yet to announce the timetable for that, but background discussions are already ongoing,” he said.
He added that details of the proposed negotiations would be made public when the process reached the appropriate stage.
“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 added.
The permanent secretary also said the government was engaging workers in sectors where disputes over salaries and allowances remained unresolved.
