Labour Vows To Reject ₦100,000 Minimum Wage, May Resume Strike Tuesday

The organised labour has vowed to reject any ₦62,000 or ₦100,000 minimum wage proposal for Nigerian workers by the federal government.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Monday, the Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Chris Onyeka, described such a proposal as a “starvation wage”.

Onyeka insisted that labour won’t accept the latest government’s offer of ₦62,000, saying that its latest demand as the living wage for an average Nigerian worker remains ₦250,000.

He said, “Our position is very clear. We have never considered accepting ₦62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know can take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage.

“We have never contemplated ₦100,000, let alone ₦62,000. We are still at ₦250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation. We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the marketplace, realities of things we buy every day: a bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”

Onyeka said the one-week grace period given to the Federal Government to review its proposal last Tuesday, June 4, 2024, would expire by midnight on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

Tinubu also directed the government representatives to work collectively with the organised private sector and the sub-nationals to achieve a new affordable wage award for Nigerians.

On Thursday, the finance minister presented the cost implications of implementing a new national minimum wage to Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, alongside the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu.
Before the directive, the minister described the proposal made by organised labour as “unaffordable. Also, the 36 state governors said labour union demand was not sustainable.

However, on Friday, June 7, 2024, labour and the government failed to reach an agreement. While labour dropped its demand again from ₦494,000 to ₦250,000, the government added ₦2,000 to its initial ₦60,000 and offered workers ₦62,000.

Both sides submitted their reports to the President, who is expected to make a decision and send an executive bill to the National Assembly to pass a new minimum wage bill, which the president will then sign into law.