The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s remarks on the new minimum wage, reaffirming its demand for a N250,000 minimum wage.
This comes after the committee on the new wage submitted a report proposing N62,000, which Tinubu referenced during his Democracy Day speech, indicating that an executive bill would soon be sent to the National Assembly.
In a statement issued by Adewale Adeyanju, standing in for NLC President Joe Ajaero, the union criticized the proposal and clarified that no agreement had been reached with the Federal Government or employers on the minimum wage figure.
“The NLC would have expected that the advisers of the President would have told him that we neither reached any agreement with the federal government and the employers on the base figure for a National Minimum Wage nor on its other components,” said Adeyanju.
The NLC insists on its original demand of N250,000, asserting that it has not been provided with any persuasive reasons to alter this position. The union expressed surprise at President Tinubu’s statements and emphasized that no such agreement was made during the tripartite negotiations.
“We are therefore surprised at the submission of Mr. President over a supposed agreement. We believe that he may have been misled into believing that there was an agreement with the NLC and TUC,” the statement read.
Furthermore, the NLC noted that it had not received a copy of the document submitted to Tinubu and would not accept any alterations to the proposed minimum wage figure.
The union concluded by calling for a fair and just minimum wage that ensures Nigerian workers do not live in poverty, urging the President to honor his promise of a living wage.
