Nigeria currently has a N30,000 minimum wage. However, many states do not currently pay up to the minimum wage.
President Bola Tinubu wants to, at least, double the minimum wage Nigerian workers earn, spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale has said.
Mr Ngelale stated this in an interview on Channels Television Thursday night, according to a statement by the presidency.
“I don’t want to preempt the president or the work of the minimum wage committee that is getting it down in those states but what I would say is this: the president will want nothing less than a doubling. I mean doubling the current minimum wage,” he said.
Nigeria currently has a N30,000 minimum wage. However, many states do not currently pay up to the minimum wage.
The Nigerian workers union has demanded an increase in the minimum wage since the rise in the cost of living following the removal of subsidy on petrol by the Tinubu administration.
Protests
Many workers in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country staged a protest on Wednesday to express their displeasure over the hardship they are facing as a result of the high cost of transportation and food occasioned by the increase in price of fuel.
The president’s pledge to review the workers salary as communicated by his aide came about 24 hours after the workers protest on Wednesday, with the Nigerian Senate demanding seven days to resolve all concerns put forward by the workers.
During the protest on Wednesday, the National Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said minimum wage is a law that will be taken to the National Assembly to legislate and that the current law will expire next year.
“If we believe what the president is saying, that means we have to wait till next year, many people will die,” he said in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES.
However, Mr Ajaero explained that for the “Wage award”, the unions proposed and a committee was set up but the government has failed to inaugurate the committee.
“So which progress are we making? If it will take months before inaugurating a committee, how long will the committee work?,” he queried.
Aside from the minimum wage increase, other demands by the workers union include a call for the adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternative to fuel, reduction in school fees and taxes, among others.
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