MINIMUM WAGE: NLC defends N615,000 demand
Oru Leonard
As the ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government of Nigeria for a new minimum wage have deadlocked following the inability of the Federal Government and organised labour to reach a consensus on the issue, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero has defended workers’ demand of Six Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Naira (N615,000), minimum wage insisting that the organised labour would not accept any amount that would impoverish its members.
Recall that the President had in January set up a tripartite committee consisting of the government, labour and private sector representatives to review the N30,000 minimum wage introduced by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Also in March, the two central labour bodies in the country, the NLC and the Trade Unions Congress, submitted a proposal of N615,000 minimum wage to the committee.
However, Ajaero said organised labour had agreed on N615,000 as the living wage for civil servants.
“Living wage is such that will, at least, keep you alive. It is not a wage that will make you poorer and poorer. It is not a wage that will make you borrow to go to work. It is not a wage that will lead you to be in the hospital every day because of malnutrition. For that living wage, we have tried to look at N615,000.
“Let me give you a breakdown of how we arrived at that figure. We have housing and accommodation of N40,000. We asked for electricity of N20,000 — of course, that was before the current tariff increase. Nobody can spend this amount currently. We have a utility that is about N10,000. We looked at kerosene and gas, that is about N25,000 to N35,000.
“We looked at food for a family of six, that is about N9,000 in a day. For 30 days, that is about N270,000. Look at medical, N50,000 provided there will be no surgery or whatever.
“For clothing, we looked at N20,000. For education, N50,000. I don’t know about those who tried to put their children in private schools, they will not be able to cope with this amount. We also have sanitation of N10,000.
“I think where we have another bulk of the money is transportation. This is because the workers stay on the fringes and because of the cost of petrol, which amounted to N110,000.
“That brought the whole living wage to N615,000 and I want anyone to subject this to further investigation and find out whether there will be any savings when you pay somebody on this rate,’’ the NLC president explained.
The Federal Government failed to announce the new minimum wage at the May Day celebration on Wednesday as it had not accepted labour’s demand.
Top officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the issue, said while the organised labour was insisting on N615,000 minimum wage, the government and the private sector were proposing between N60,000 and N70,000, resulting in a stalemate in negotiations.
