How NLC arrived at N615,000 minimum wage

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, on Thursday explained how the congress arrived at the N615,000 minimum wage proposal which it submitted to the Tripartite Committee on minimum wage.

Recent reforms in Nigeria including the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market have pushed the cost of living to newer levels.

Inflation figures hit 33.2 per cent in March, further compounding a troubled economy.

Labour unions and the Federal Government have since been locked in negotiations over measures including a new minimum wage to cushion the impacts of the harsh economy.

The NLC is proposing a N615,000 monthly salary for workers, a jump from the current N30,000.

Although many believe it is unrealistic, the labour union believes many states can pay it if they get their priorities right.

Ajaero in the statement, said the figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which the congress captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.

He further described the figure as essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and the Trade Union Congress on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.

The research was said to have been based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.

“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.

“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians to understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process,” the labour leader explained.

Giving the summary, Ajaero further noted that the union arrived at the figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.

He described any figure below the amount as a starvation wage that would condemn Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.

“We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the Law that demanded for negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed,” he added.