Festus Osifo, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, president says the current minimum wage of N30,000 can no longer cater for the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which will expire by April.
Osifo said the union is however proposing a clause in the framing of a new minimum wage.
He said the proposed clause was aimed at sanctioning state governments who fail to pay the revised minimum wage when approved.
The TUC President while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday said the sanction will also require that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) be paid directly to workers in states where governors default on the payment of the new minimum wage when approved.
“We are designing a system as part of this new minimum wage negotiation on sanctioning. That when a new minimum wage is passed, there must be sanctions to governors that are not being responsive, may be their FAAC allocations, may be the Federal Government can pay some monies directly to the workers instead of giving it to the states,” the TUC boss said.
Osifo said the current minimum wage of N30,000 can no longer cater for the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which will expire by April, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act is to be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the TUC have at various times called on the administration of President Bola Tinubu to hasten the upward review of wage awards.
The TUC boss said, “This is a demand that we have put forward. Look at the states, as at April (2023), what was shared as Federal Allocation was somewhere around N400bn but as at last month (February), what was shared was close to N2trn.”
The Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act is to be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.
Thanks to the NLC and TUC Chairmen for being the mouth piece of workers nation wide. With you, workers’hope is lifted. Please keep up the great work. We understood the fact that the wages increment must base on the current economic contemporary.
This should not be the drive for Inflation. Moreover, exchange rate should be regulated rather the new salary structure should be rated in dollar value.