Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the dialogue between it and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for the review of the National Minimum Wage will take three months before a formal demand to government.
The President of the congress, Ayuba Wabba, made this known at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Thursday.
Wabba said that the organised labour had advanced reasons for the review of the minimum wage, adding that the law stipulated that it should be reviewed after five years.
“We are going to make a formal demand but that will also entail that we have to do formal consultation with our counterpart and agree on a figure and that is the major issue on the general principle; all of us are on the same page.
“But we need also to use empirical data to arrive at a figure, that when we present it people will not also look at us as people that are not very informed about the issues, so that process certainly will not take more than three months I suppose.
“And because first we need to agree on the figure and present it to our National Executive Council for note, then we now present formally to government as a formal demand.”
According to the NLC president, even when the law provides for minimum wage review, it is the duty of organised labour to make a formal demand.
Wabba said that in response to NLC’s demand, government would constitute a tripartite committee comprising employers’ organisations (privately run business owners), state governments and the federal government.
“Government will form a committee where proper collective bargaining process will take place which will lead to the review of the minimum wage.
“All those processes will be effectively followed, am sure that not long those issues will be made publicly to the Nigeria workers,“ he said.
He said that the congress would try to harmonise the issue of figure with TUC, adding that they would not want to quote figures.
According to him, empirical data will be used to arrive at recommendations that will be made.
The president said that the issue of welfare and wellbeing of Nigeria workers was one of the major objectives of the congress as a labour centre.
“In fact that is our major preoccupation, the welfare and wellbeing of Nigeria workers and that of the larger societies, we are the only mass organisation that has that core mandate,“ he stated.
He said that outside capital, labour was the most important commodity that was used to advance development and also lead the process of production.
Wabba said that the minimum wage needed to be reviewed due to factors such as inflation, low purchasing power of workers and the issue of the economy.
According to him, when these factors and variables were looked at by the congress, in the case of civil servants, it showed that the minimum wage was overdue for review.
“When you look at all these factors and variables, in our case the national minimum wage is due for review when we negotiated the current N18, 000 minimum wage five years down the line the exchange rate of naira to dollar was around N140, but today the naira to dollar is over N200 .
“The inflation rate over the past five years have been monumental and invariable it is clear that the purchasing power of the ordinary Nigeria worker has actually being reduced to nothing,“ he said.
The president said that for corruption to be addressed, workers needed to be paid well.
He said that the congress was mindful of the challenges in the economy, adding that facts and figures had proved that the challenges were artificial.
Wabba said the resources that were supposed to be made available for our common good had been appropriated by few as a result of lack of good governance and corruption in the system.
The NLC president, however, assured that the congress would always fight for the welfare of Nigeria workers. (NAN)
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