The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for N794,000 as the new national minimum wage for workers in the south-west zone.
Funmi Sessi, chairperson of the NLC‘s Lagos state chapter, stated this on Thursday during a presentation at the tripartite committee’s ongoing public hearing on the national minimum wage in Lagos.
According to Punch, Sessi stated that the demand had been agreed upon by all members of the union in the southwest.
On January 30, the federal government established a 37-member tripartite committee on the national minimum wage.
The committee is tasked with recommending a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
Bukar Goni Aji, the federation’s former head of service, chairs the committee, which includes representatives from the federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour.
During an interview on Arise Television in February, NLC president Joe Ajaero stated that the new minimum wage for workers should be N1 million.
According to the NLC president, the demand reflects the country’s high inflation and naira depreciation.
Ajaero said:
“This N1 million may be relevant if the value of the Nigerian (naira) continues to depreciate and if the inflation is not checked because the demand of labour is equally dependent on what is happening in the society.”
“You will remember that by the time we were contemplating N200,000, the exchange rate was about N800/N900. As we talk today, the exchange rate is about N1,400 or even more.”