Minimum Wage: NLC Calls For Review Of Workers’ Salaries

Kwara State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Abdulyekeen Agunbiade, has called on the Federal Government to review the minimum wage in the country.

The NLC chairman made the call in Ilorin on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen on the state of the nation. He said according to Labour law, workers salaries should be reviewed every ten years.

The labour leader said labour has not abandoned the call for upward review of the minimum wage for workers in the country and that Nigerian workers would not settle for any amount less than N50, 000 as minimum wage.

The NLC boss said that it was disheartening that Nigeria workers earn the lowest minimum wage among it contemporaries in the world.

He said that the Labour Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, was not in control of the ministry because the spate of trade disputes across the country couldn’t have been that viral if he had been in charge.

The NLC chief added a number of strike actions embarked upon by various trade unions were suspended out of sheer patriotism on the part of the labour leaders.

Mr. Agunbiade, however, stressed the need for Dr Ngige to consider his pronouncement as the Labour Minister, which according to him showed clearly that he could handle national trade disputes.

The House of Representatives in May sought a compulsory review of the National Minimum Wage every five years.

The legal framework, which has passed through second reading on the floor of the House, when passed, will set in motion a process for government and the organised labour to commence discussions on the review of wages every five years.

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, during the federal council meeting in May approved a 29-member National Minimum Wage Committee to negotiate with labour unions and work out a new minimum wage.

According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, the approval of the committee came as a result of the  council’s deliberation on the report of the joint committee of government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).