May 1, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has assured Nigerian workers that even though the Tripartite Committee On National Minimum Wage, has not yet finalised its negotiations, employees will not be at a disadvantage as the new minimum wage will be enforced starting from May 1, 2024.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, stated this on Wednesday, while addressing Nigerian workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja.
She said it was regrettable that the new national minimum wage was not ready before this year’s Workers’ Day, but that a wide consultation was ongoing to ensure that the document is out together as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Wednesday, called on the federal government to announce a new minimum wage of N615,000
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero expressed the demand in his address at the 2024 Workers Day celebration at the Eagles Square in Abuja,
“We want to remind you that the process of fixing the new Minimum wage is still continuing. We have placed our demand of N615,000 before our social partners, while we await their offer”
Earlier, Ajaero described as mischievous, the 35% pay rise for civil servants across various consolidated salary structures on Tuesday.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, Ajaero said the organised labour has agreed on N615,000 as the living wage for civil servants.
“We should be in the regime of new minimum wage as of today. Discussions were supposed to have been concluded. The federal government through the national assembly legislated on it. But we saw that the discussion entered voice mail because the federal government refused to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned.
“I think the announcement now appears mischievous because there is no wage increase that government is announcing. For them to announce it now, it is an issue that we are worried about at the NLC and even at the TUC.
“Living wage is such that will, at least keep you alive. It is not a wage that will make you poor 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 everyday 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 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 for those who tried to put their children in private school, 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 in the fringes and because of the cost of PMS, that 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”, he said.
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