Nigerian Workers Need Living Wage, Not Minimum — Reps Tell Tinubu

Representatives advise Tinubu that Nigerian workers should be paid a livable wage rather than the minimum wage.

The House of Representatives tasked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all labor employers on Wednesday with accelerating the ongoing process for paying Nigerian workers a “living wage” throughout the nation.

The lawmakers also called on the Federal Government to reconsider reducing electricity tariffs, with the aim of alleviating the hardship faced by Nigerians.

The resolutions were adopted in response to the motion on urgent public importance, “Urgent need to consider the Imperativeness of fixing a living wage for Nigerian workers in order to ameliorate current economic hardship,” which was sponsored by Hon. Isa Ali Jesse.

Hon. Isa stated in his lead discussion that the current government's socioeconomic policies and the outlook for the global economy have led to various economic effects, particularly for Nigerian workers, such as currency devaluation, higher electricity tariffs, and inflation.

“The House equally cognizant that government has been locked in negotiations with labour unions towards the upward review of the Minimum Wage for some time, without any agreement, leading to a recent interruption in the negotiations,” he noted.

He said that the National Assembly removed the N30,000 National Minimum Wage Act of 2019 and replaced it with a N27,000 suggestion at the time, along with a wage award from the previous President.

“The House is also aware that in line with Section 3(4) of the Act, the extant minimum wage which commenced on April 18, 2019, has expired after five years on April 18, 2024, thereby calling for a further review of the existing Act.

“The House notes that the implication of payment of N35,000 wage award by the Federal Government to public servants as one of the ways of cushioning the effects of current economic hardship, including the May 1st pronouncement of percentage increases in salaries of civil servants has or the time being, increased the total amount received by civil servants to 77,000 monthly.

“The House also notes that the Labour, Employment and Productivity unions have since demanded a living wage as against the minimum wage to meet today's economic realities.”