NLC Yet To Determine New Minimum Wage, Says Ajaero

The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, has distanced itself from the N500,000 being canvassed as the new minimum wage, saying it has yet to adopt a position on an amount to be presented to the tripartite committee on the new minimum wage for workers.

The President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, disclosed this to Sunday PUNCH in an interview with our correspondent in Yola, Adamawa State.

Speaking at the sidelines of the North-East zonal public hearing by the tripartite committee on national wage, Ajaero noted that the N500,000 and N700,000 being proposed as new minimum wage is unknown to the NLC.

According to him, all the figures flying around should be disregarded because the NLC as a body had yet to adopt a common presentation on the new minimum wage.

He said, “The N500,000, N700,000 you are hearing are being collated at the level of the states. In Lagos and other places, I think they are about N700,000 while in other places they are talking about N500,000 which are inputs collated from geopolitical zones.

“But the NLC secretariat has not made any presentation, these minimum figures are what is coming from the states. When we collate them then we’ll do a central presentation based on the raw materials we are getting from states.

“It (minimum wage) has to be relative to the cost of living in those states. You will agree with me that rent here is not as that in Abuja, and not the same thing as in Lagos. So relatively speaking you won’t have a straitjacket-like presentation by Labour in all the states.”

On his part, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Adamawa State, Dr Solomon Bulus, said the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council backed the implementation of the N500,000 new minimum wage because it would drive down the hardship being experienced nationally.