The Federal Government announced plans to raise the N30,000 minimum salary in response to the global inflation crisis.
At a public presentation for the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja with the theme “Contemporary history of working-class struggle,” the minister of labor and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, made this revelation.
He claimed that the change had become crucial to reflect what was going on throughout the world.
He said, “The inflation is worldwide, we shall adjust the minimum wage in conformity with what is happening now. The 2019 Minimum Wage Act has a new clause for a review. The adjustment has started with the Academic Staff Union of University because the stage they are with their primary employers, Ministry of Education, is a collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
“Under the principles of offer and acceptance, which is that of collective bargaining, ASUU can look at the offer they gave us and make a counter offer, but they have not done that. If they do that, we are bound to look at their offer. These are the ingredients of collective negotiations.”
He added stated, “If you don’t work, you won’t eat,” adding that labour provided the riches of any nation as well as the prosperity of every family.
However, he gave the Nigeria Labour Congress branch union executives advice to become conversant with labor legislation.
He further stated that preparations were being made to turn the Michael Imoudu Institute of Labour Studies in Ilorin, Kwara State, into a college that grants degrees.
According to him, the current minimum wage of N30,000 would not cover workers’ transportation costs for a month of employment in the current economic climate.
Festus Osifo, president of the Trade Union Congress, also spoke, stating that the country’s labor movement’s only goal was to defend the interests of workers.
The story would have been different today, he claimed, if not for the battle of the movement’s forefathers throughout the nation.
