‘Unsustainable’ — FG says labour’s N494k minimum wage demand amounts to N9.5trn yearly

The federal government says the N494,000 minimum wage proposed by organised labour is “unsustainable”.

In a statement on Saturday, Mohammed Idris, minister of information, said the demand by organised labour amounts to a N9.5 trillion bill for the federal government annually.

The minister added that the proposal of organised labour would increase the existing workers’ wage bill by 1,547 percent.

BACKGROUND

In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari approved N30,000 as the national minimum wage for workers.

Recently, the federal and state governments, organised labour, and the private sector commenced discussion over the new minimum wage.

Initially, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had proposed N615,500 as the minimum wage, citing the high cost of living.

However, the federal government rejected the N615,500 proposal and offered N48,000.

On May 15, the NLC and TUC rejected the N48,000 minimum wage offered by the government.

On May 21, the federal government increased the proposed minimum wage to N54,000, which the labour again rejected and described as “unacceptable”.

Again, the federal government proposed N60,000, and it was rejected.

On Friday, NLC and TUC declared an indefinite strike over the federal government’s refusal to increase the minimum wage from N60,000.

The planned strike is expected to kick off on June 3.

‘FG CONCERNED ABOUT 200M NIGERIANS’

The minister said organised labour is fighting for the interest of 1.2 million workers, while the federal government is concerned about 200 million Nigerians.

“The federal government’s new minimum wage proposal amounts to a 100% increase on the existing minimum wage,” the minister said.

“Labour, however, wanted N494,000, which would increase by 1,547% on the existing wage.

“The sum of N494,000 national minimum wage which labour is seeking would cumulatively amount to the sum N9.5 trillion bill to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Nigerians need to understand that whereas the federal government is desirous of ample remuneration for Nigerian workers, what is most critical is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not encourage any action that could lead to massive job loss, especially in the private sector, who may not be able to pay the wage demanded by the organised labour.”