Labour demands immediate start to new Minimum Wage talks.
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA— THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the Federal Government of ignoring the statutory timetable for the next national minimum wage review, insisting that negotiations should already be under way rather than waiting until 2027.
NLC Acting General Secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, said the current N70,000 minimum wage was agreed on July 28, 2024 and backdated to May 1, 2024, but argued that the backdating did not alter the three-year review cycle introduced by the 2024 amendment to the Minimum Wage Act.
“In our estimation, the negotiations ought to have been on the way, or ought to be on the way, because one, the economic realities have since wiped out the value of the ₦70,000, upon which the minimum wage was premised,” Upah said.
He said the 2023 amendment changed only two things: the wage figure, from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000, and the review cycle, from five years to three years, adding that neither change authorised government or labour to shift the commencement date of the three-year cycle at will. “The principal act was not amended, and there was nothing in the amended items that states that the three yearly cycle can be abridged by either of the parties. “It is clear that this thing runs on the three yearly cycle now. It is like the constitution says a governor shall hold office for four years, and the governor has to hold office for four years.” Upah argued that, on the NLC’s reading of the law, the three-year period should be counted from the earlier wage cycle, meaning negotiations ought to have started in June.
MSEApp News is publishing an original rewrite of this tip for readers, based on reporting associated with Vanguard.