Organised labour, comprising the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, has demanded N615,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
An impeccable source, who is an executive of organised labour, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told Sunday PUNCH that the new wage of N615,000 monthly was reached after consultations by the NLC and TUC.
The source, who was a member of one of the sub-committees set up by the government to work on getting a new minimum wage for the country, however, said the wage might still increase, following the recent hike in electricity tariff.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on Saturday, the source said, “We (NLC and TUC) have given our figures to the government (on the minimum wage), and it is N615,000. That is the position of the NLC and TUC on the matter. The government has been informed as well.”
President Bola Tinubu, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, had on January 30, set up a 37-member panel at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
With its membership cutting across federal and state governments, the private sector, and organised labour, the panel was tasked with recommending a new national minimum wage.
At the inaugural meeting of the panel, Shettima urged members to ‘speedily’ arrive at a resolution, and submit their reports early as the current N30,000 minimum wage expired at the end of March 2024.
