Minimum wage: FG Eyes N62,000, Govs Demand N57,000

Talks regarding the minimum wage intensify as Federal Government met with Organised labour considering the new minimum wages.

However, Federal government may be on a collision course with governors, and the private sector for agreeing to pay a minimum wage higher than N60,000.

Findings revealed that, while the Federal Government may be ready to accept N62,000 as the new minimum wage, governors and the organised private sector were against paying as high as N60,000. They insisted that any figure above N57,000 may not be sustainable.

A source who pleaded not to be mentioned revealed that governors are arguing that after the payment of the Federal Government proposed wage, the states would be left with nothing for developmental projects if they accepted a minimum wage above N57,000.

Organised Labour, comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, had again rejected the offer of the Federal Government to pay N60,000 as a new minimum wage for workers.

The Organised Labour also shifted ground from its N497,000 stance last week to N494,000.

A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers said Federal Government and Organised Private Sector side of the talks proposed a N60,000 monthly minimum wage on Tuesday, as against the N57,000 they proposed last week when the committee last met.

The government and the OPS had initially proposed N48,000 and N54,000 last week, which were also rejected by Organised Labour.

The organised labour had presented N615,000 as the new minimum wage but saw reasons to drop their demand to N497,000 last week, and then to N494,000 on Tuesday.

The labour unions said the current minimum wage of N30,000 could no longer cater to the well-being of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors were paying the current wage award, which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described as ‘unsubstantial’, the fresh proposals by the government. “It is still not substantial compared to what we need to get a family moving,” the labour leader had said of the current N30,000 wage paid to workers in the country.

“The economy of the workers is totally destroyed. In fact, the workers don’t have any economy. I think there are two economies in the country— the economy of the bourgeoisie and the economy of the workers. I think we have to harmonise this so that we can have a meeting point,” Ajaero had said.

Recent development had the Organised labour again meeting with the Federal government committee.

The Federal Government expressed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to raising the N60,000 offered as the minimum wage.
The agreement stated, “The President of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is committed to establishing a National Minimum Wage higher than N60,000; and the Tripartite Committee will convene daily for the next week to finalise an agreeable National Minimum Wage.”

Organised Labour also agreed to “immediately hold meetings of its organs to consider this new offer, and no worker would face victimisation as a consequence of participating in the industrial action.”

These resolutions were signed on behalf of the Federal Government by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

Governors, however, accused the Federal Government of caving under labour’s pressure without critically looking at the feasibility of paying above N60,000 for states.

A South East governor who pleaded anonymity said lamented how he would use huge amounts to pay less than 200,000 civil servants in the state, which did not constitute more than five per cent of the population.

“The FG has literally shaved our heads in our absence. Though we had nominal representations, they were not allowed to come back to us for proper consultation,” said a manufacturer in Lagos who craved anonymity.

Though governors, local governments and Organised Private Sector are against the N60,000, a member of the FG negotiation team said the Federal Government was ready to keep its promise of a figure higher than 60,000.

“Actually, FG’s position is that we can pay as much as N65,000, because the President believed in a quick and amicable solution,” the member told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity.

The NGF in a statement by its acting Director of Media and Public Affairs, Halimah Ahmed, expressed concerns that if the N60,000 minimum wage was adopted, many states would allocate their entire allocations to salaries, leaving no resources for development projects.

The statement read in part “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum is in agreement that a new minimum wage is due. The forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.

“However, the forum urges all parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners. The NGF cautions parties in this important discussion to look beyond just signing a document for the sake of it; any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.”

The NGF urged all parties involved in the negotiation process, particularly the labor unions, to take into account all socioeconomic factors, and reach a sustainable agreement.