Organised labour led by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress recently proposed a N615,000 living wage demand, which they later reduced to N497,000.
However, the Federal Government slashed the labour demand by more than 92%, by pushing forward N48,000 per month. The government later jagged it up to N57,000.
While the government claimed it is not financially buoyant to pay N497,000 as minimum wage, labour said they can’t settle for anything below a living wage, saying that N57,000 did not fall into that category.
However, an insider says consultants of the government recommended N100,000, which the government has yet to make public.
Proposing a reasonable monthly minimum wage for workers is a course that organised labour is known for. But both parties must agree on a wage before it can be effective. INFOMEDIANG highlights the timeline of minimum wage in Nigeria from 1981 to date
- 1981: N125
- 1989/90: N250
- 1998/99: N3,000
- 2000/01: N5,500 & N7,500
- 2011: N18,000
- 2018/2019: N30,000
- 2023: N30,000
- 2024: N30,000
- 2024: ?
Some states are yet to implement N30K monthly wage
Instructive to note that the last minimum wage of N30,000 is yet to be implemented by some states such as Anambra, Kogi, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Ebonyi.
“The states that have not been paying the old N30,000 minimum wage are Kogi, Zamfara, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Sokoto.”
NLC spokesman, Ben Upah
The case of the Anambra is even disturbing as a report from the state says there is currently no standard minimum wage in the state, blaming it on the paucity of funds.
“The minimum wage used to be about N18,000 until the last administration added N5,000 to it. But the current administration, some time ago, was paying the workers an additional N12,000, it did it for some months until it stopped,” The Punch quoted a source from the state’s ministry of finance.
While some workers in the state received N18,000 and N25,000, others received N28,500 per month. According to the report, the governor of the state, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, had set up a committee to resolve the issue.