Minister: Some States Still Owe ₦30,000 Wage; ₦494,000 Is Extremely Difficult
The labour minister declared that the ₦494,000 minimum wage demanded by the Organised Labour is unachievable since it will increase inflation.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of Labour and Employment, has pleaded with the Organised Labour to end its current strike action, which has severely hampered the nation’s economy.
According to Onyejeocha, state governments and the organised private sector must decide on a new minimum wage, not the federal government alone.
“The Federal Government takes into cognisance that it’s the tripartite committee that would also ensure that if Mr A agrees to pay, he has to pay,” the minister stated on Monday, the first day of the strike.
She said that some state governments are still unable to pay the ₦30,000 minimum salary that the tripartite committee decided upon in 2019, let alone the ₦494,000 wage demand made by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Remember that several states were unable to pay the ₦18,000 minimum wage when it was approved. Then came the ₦30,000 minimum salary, which some states are still unable to pay. It is therefore not something you determine for other people. That authority to impose does not lie with the Federal Government, she noted.
Fearing that many companies would not be able to pay such a salary and that it would result in significant job losses, Onyejeocha declared, “the ₦494,000 is highly impossible” as the new minimum in the nation.
The minister claimed that because businesses, airports, universities, hospitals, and the power supply were impacted, the walkout had caused a significant economic loss over the previous 24 hours.
With the “hardship” that has been inflicted on Nigerians in the last 24 hours since the strike started, Onyejeocha said that labour should reverse its decision, put an end to the strike, and return to the negotiating table in order to get a fair salary for workers in the nation.
She insisted that the new minimum wage not just be decided upon and proclaimed to appease labour, but also reflect the productivity and affordability of the private sector.
Beyond the agreement on a new living wage, she said, all tripartite committee members need to take sustainability into account when making payments.
The labour minister warned the ₦494,000 demand by the Organised Labour would drive up Nigeria’s inflation beyond the present 33.69% and urged the resentful unions to take into account the ₦60,000 offer by the government and the Organised Private Sector.
The Federal administration is dedicated to providing the nation with a new and reasonable minimum wage, Onyejeocha stated, denying that the administration is indifferent to the issue as the labour unions have suggested.
Point of no return
The NLC and TUC bemoaned that not all governors were paying the current wage award, which expired in April 2024, five years after former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Minimum Wage Act of 2019, claiming that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 could no longer support the well-being of an average Nigerian worker. Reviewing the Act every five years would help it to keep up with the modern economic needs of workers.
Workers then gave the Federal Government until May 31 to implement the new minimum wage. Over the government committee’s failure to agree on a new minimum wage and the reversal of the power tariff hike, the workers’ organs throughout the nation announced on May 31 that a nationwide strike would start on Monday, June 3, 2024.
Labour turned down three government proposals during the fruitless negotiations; the most recent one was N60,000. The NLC and the TUC then withdrew from the talks, adamant on ₦494,000 being the new minimum wage.
On Sunday night, labour leaders and the National Assembly leadership held last-minute discussions that ended in failure when Organised Labour said that the industrial action would not be halted.
Meanwhile, Wale Edun, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, declared that the demands of the workers are unaffordable.