The Organised Labour says it will not accept any ₦62,000 or ₦100,000 “starvation wage” as the minimum wage for Nigerian workers. Labour insisted on ₦250,000, its latest demand at the last meeting of the Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage on Friday, as the living wage for an average Nigerian worker.
“Our position is very clear,” said Chris Onyeka, an Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief show on Monday monitored by Core TV News. He insisted that labour won’t accept the latest government’s offer of ₦62,000 and the ₦100,000 proposal by some individuals and economists.
Onyeka said, “We have never considered accepting ₦62,000 or any other wage that we know is below what we know is able to take Nigerian workers home. We will not negotiate a starvation wage. “We have never contemplated ₦100,000 let alone of ₦62,000. We are still at ₦250,000, that is where we are, and that is what we considered enough concession to the government and the other social partners in this particular situation.
We are not just driven by frivolities but the realities of the market place; realities of things we buy every day: bag of rice, yam, garri, and all of that.”
