TUC: N48k minimum wage proposal abysmal — it can’t buy a bag of rice

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) says the N48,000 minimum wage proposed by the federal government is “abysmal”.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, Festus Osifo, president of the TUC, said N48,000 cannot buy a bag of rice in the market.

On Wednesday, a meeting called by the federal government to discuss the national minimum wage ended abruptly after leaders of organised labour staged a walk-out.

During the meeting, the federal government proposed N48,000 as the new minimum wage, while the organised private sector proposed N54,000.

Leaders of organised labour were furious that the federal government failed to provide a breakdown to support its proposal.

Labour has repeatedly proposed N615,000 as the acceptable minimum wage given current economic realities.

Speaking on the development, Osifo said the federal government is not serious with the negotiation.

The TUC president said the federal government failed to factor in inflation and other economic challenges confronting the citizenry.

He added that if the federal government failed to continue the negotiation on the new minimum wage, organised labour will no longer guarantee industrial harmony in the country.

“Before President Muhammadu Buhari left office, the least person in the federal ministry was actually earning N42,000,” he said.

“If you now factor in the wage award of N35,000 that was given, N42,000 plus N35,000 will give us N77,000. So, as of today, what the least federal government worker earns is N77,000.

“So, the question that we now ask is that if the least federal government worker is earning N77,000, why are you now coming to present N48,000? It does not just make any sense.

“If you look at the value of N48,000 today… when we negotiated N18,000 in 2011, it could buy more than two bags of rice. N30,000 in 2019 could buy at least one and half bag of rice.

“N48,000 today cannot buy a bag of rice. How can a man survive with N48,000?

“We will communicate to Nigerians because what they have put on the table is completely abysmal in this era of inflation and economic challenges.”

A 50kg bag of rice currently sells for between N75,000 and N85,000, depending on the variety.