The National Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have suggested minimum wage figures of N540,000 and N447,000 for workers in the South-east region.
The proposal was put forward by the organised labour unions of NLC and TUC during the South-East Zonal Hearing held by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage on Thursday in Enugu.
Speaking on behalf of the NLC in the regions, Fabian Nwigbo, the chairman of the NLC in Enugu, noted that the value of the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019 had been eroded by inflation.
“If you consider what is going on in the country today, one won’t be talking about minimum wage anymore,” the NLC chair.
Nwagbo described the situation as very “unfortunate,” saying that compared to the minimum wages in West African countries, Nigerian workers are the least paid.
“For us, we want to propose based on the prices of commodities in Nigeria. In 2019 when we had N30, 000 minimum wage, a paint bucket of garri was N280, rice and beans were about N450 each while fuel was N145. This has continued to subsist till today where a litre of fuel is now N750 to N800 depending on the location.
“In the current state, a paint bucket of rice costs over N4000, and garri N2,500. Two two-bedroom flats in Enugu that used to be N250,000-N300,000 are now over N650,000 in the suburbs, and in the city, they stand at N1.2 million yearly.”
