By Olawale Lamina
Nigerian workers, under the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, have turned down the Federal government’s fresh N58,000 minimum wage offer.
Sources based on the Channels Television reports on Wednesday noted that the organized labour saw reason to drop their demand to N497,000 minimum wage from N615,000.
Recall that earlier, the Federal Government offered the organized labour a minimum wage of N54,000. And previously, it offered a minimum wage of N48,000, which resulted in a walkout by the workers.
Speaking on Politics Today, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described the government offer as insufficient.
“Ajaero was quoted as saying that: “It is still not substantial compared to what we need to make a family moving.”
At the commencement of negotiation towards an improved minimum wage standard for the Nigerian workers, the NLC had proposed a N615,000 minimum, away from the current N30,000, which it noted didn’t reflect the present economic realities.
But pundits have also criticized the NLC for making an unrealistic proposal for wage increase, even as some agreed that there is a need for a fair wage increase commensurate with the present situation in the country. Some have proposed that a minimum wage proposal between N150,000 and N100,000 would have been appropriate and realistic as the starting point.
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