Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, revealed that Organised Labour turned down a proposal by President Bola Tinubu to implement a ₦250,000 minimum wage, conditional on increasing petrol prices.
Ajaero, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Thursday, explained that accepting the current ₦70,000 minimum wage was a strategic decision to shield Nigerians from additional hardship.
This statement came shortly after Labour leaders met with the President in Abuja to discuss the matter.
“At last week’s meeting, the President brought a proposal that ‘I will give you guys ₦250,000’ if you allow me to equally increase the pump price of petroleum products’ and we said, ‘No, we need to go and consult’.
“Today, we went there to tell him, ‘No’. The labour movement can make sacrifices without allowing Nigerians to suffer further on the increase in the pump price of petroleum products.”
The pump price of petrol jumped from ₦184 in May 2023 when Tinubu declared that “subsidy is gone” to about ₦700 at the moment, depending on the part of the country.
Ajaero also said the Organised Labour agreed to ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers because the wage reviews in the country will no longer be every five years but once in three years.
President Tinubu is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly on the agreed rate for onward legislation.
