The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have listed conditions for the proposed review of the national minimum wage.
The two labour unions say the continuous rise in inflation and the devaluation of the naira must be checked before the salary increase announced by the Federal Government could be considered.
The organised labour explained that the cost of virtually all consumables in Nigeria had been on the rise, stressing that if this should continue; any amount of money that would be added to the minimum wage might not meet the expectations of workers.
The NLC and TUC spoke against the backdrop of the disclosure by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, that the Federal Government would soon announce salary increments for civil servants and public officials due to the steady increase in prices of consumer goods.
It would recalled that Nigeria’s headline inflation has continued to rise this year, hitting a new high of 21.47 per cent in November 2022 from 21.09 per cent in October 2022, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics this month.
The World Bank recently said Nigeria might have one of the highest inflation rates globally in 2022, with increasing prices diminishing the welfare of Nigerian households.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, the minister explained that a Presidential Committee on Salaries is currently reviewing salaries with a plan to announce its decision in early 2023.
But reacting to the planned salary review on Wednesday, the Deputy President, NLC, Joe Ajaero, told said the government, employers and labour unions must meet to review the minimum wage before any hike could be considered.
He said, “As we speak now, the price of kerosene, cooking gas, a litre of fuel; any of these items, multiply their cost by 30 days; it is more than the current N30,000 minimum wage.
“So, it is not necessarily the amount of money or quantum you are going to put that will solve our problem. You have to check the rate at which these items are going up, or else within even a day or two, the money will be used up.”