Nigeria’s Trade Union Congress Urges FG to Increase Minimum Wage to Cushion Effect of Subsidy Removal

Nigeria’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the Federal Government to increase the minimum wage of workers from N30,000 to N200,000 to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.

In a meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the union said to the government that the wage increment should be done before the end of June as part of the consequential adjustment on the cost of living allowance (COLA).

The TUC also demanded that the status quo ante of PMS pump price should be maintained while the discussion continued, adding that a representative of state governors must be a party to the communique and that all the governors must commit to implementing the new minimum wage.

Other demands of the TUC from the Federal Government include;

• Tax holiday for employees both in government and private sector that earn less than 200,000 or 500 USD monthly whichever is higher.

• PMS allowance to be introduced for those earning between N200,000 to N500,000 or 500USD to 1,200USD whichever is higher.

• The Exchange rate for retailing PMS in the country must be kept within a limit of +2% for the next ten (10) years where the fluctuation is more than 2%, the minimum wage will automatically increase at the same rate.

• Setting up of intervention fund where the government will be paying N10 per liter on all locally consumed PMS. The primary purpose of this fund is to solve perennial and protracted national issues in education, health, and housing. A governance structure that will include labor, civil society, and government will be put in place to manage the implementation.

• The president should direct whoever will be the labor minister to immediately constitute the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). This platform will be used by the government, Labor, and employer to discuss issues and policies of the government that may affect workers and all other mandates as specified in the law.

• State Governments should immediately set up a subsidized transportation system to reduce the pressure on workers and students. The framework around this will be worked out.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) demand is coming after the union had suspended the planned national strike over fuel subsidy removal.

Investors King understands that the Federal Government, the TUC, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would establish a joint committee to review the proposal for any wage increase or award and establish a framework and timeline for implementation.