Abuja – The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), on Thursday in Abuja called on the Federal Government to accept the N56,000 being canvassed by labour unions as new national minimum wage.
President of the TUC, Mr Bobboi Kaigama, made the call during an interactive session with newsmen.
He said that any government that neglected workers’ demand would be inviting trouble as the labour unions had followed due process.
He said “the law states that there should be a review of national minimum wage after five years, and Labour has followed that process to the end.
“Going by the current economic realities, Nigerian workers should have demanded between N90, 000 to N100, 000 as minimum wage.
“The Nigerian workers are being considerate by demanding for N56, 000 as the new national minimum wage.
“Government spends so much taking care of prisoners while neglecting the welfare of workers who create the wealth.
“ They spend an average of N27, 000 monthly to feed each prisoner and this does not include the fact that the prisoner does not pay rent and other utility bills like water and electricity.
“So, no responsible government will throw the issue of the new minimum wage away as the time frame of five years has elapsed”, he said.
He added that it was expected that the process of setting up tripartite committee should be put in place for negotiation to commence after the proposal had been received.
On whether states can afford the new minimum wage based on current dwindling economic fortunes, Kaigama said they would if they put their priorities right.
“It is not that they cannot pay. It is the fact that they have mismanaged the resources of their states.
“There is no state in this country that cannot pay workers’ salaries, at least from their IGR. If there is any such state that cannot afford it, we will demand for the merger of such state with a viable one.
“Apart from that, there is no state in this country, apart from the first generation ones, that demanded for creation of state without a provision in their demands that the first thing they can afford is to pay their workers’ wages from their IGR.
“Any governor who cannot pay the minimum wage should put in his resignation letter and tell his people why he cannot pay.” (NAN)