Organized labor explains why it may not accept N100,000 as the minimum wage. has explained why the Federal Government should not consider offering N100,000 as the new minimum wage, insisting that it used the lowest minimum in determining N615,000 as the new minimum wage.
Organized Labour, consisting of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), withdrew from the negotiation meeting last Wednesday when the government offered N48,000 as the new minimum wage. However, the chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, Alhaji Bukar Goni, in a letter to Organized Labour, called for a meeting to be held on Monday, May 20. He indicated that the government would be willing to compromise and asked Organized Labour to do the same.
Responding, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, representing the NLC on the Tripartite Committee, stated that it would not be reasonable for the government to offer N100,000.
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He said:
“I don’t think one hundred thousand naira is acceptable because it’s far below our expectations; we need an amount that can at least sustain a person. I don’t believe a hundred thousand naira will support a worker in this country, especially one with a family of six, as our calculations are based on family size.
“If they propose that amount, we will not appreciate it. In the private sector, even artisans earn more than one hundred thousand naira a month. Whatever we agree on must consider the government’s revenue and capacity. If the government is collecting one trillion naira, we cannot demand they pay two trillion.
We are responsible people, but the government must recognize that people are suffering. They need to agree that there is a crisis, and something must be done to create wealth and turn Nigeria into a producing country rather than a consuming one.
Something must be done to reduce the cost of governance. We are supposed to be partners in governance, after all, we are the laborers.”
“If we find that one hundred thousand naira is affordable for them, and we see that they can afford more, we will reject it. They need to explain why they can’t pay N615,000. The responsibility is on them to justify it. Then we will discuss and understand why they don’t have the money, especially since Nigeria is a naturally endowed country, but something is clearly wrong.
NLC Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said:
“Our expectation is for the government to be serious this time. We want them to address the issue of workers’ wages with more seriousness.”
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When asked if labor would accept N100,000, he said, “It wouldn’t be fair, and here’s why. First, when we demanded N615,000, we broke that down using the bare minimum. For example, we allocated N40,000 for accommodation and N500 for food. Tell me where you can feed a family of six on N500. We used the lowest estimates, but since then, the government has increased electricity tariffs by 250%, adding more costs and expenses.
So, if the government is serious, it shouldn’t be considering one hundred thousand naira. Creating poor citizens only leads to a poorer country.”
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