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Minimum Wage: Why We May Not Accept N100,000 – Organised Labour

Published

2 years ago

May 20, 2024

The organised labour has told the government to perish any idea of offering N100,000 as the new minimum wage.

The labour has also told the government to be serious with the negotiations on the issue of workers wages, insisting that it used the lowest minimum in arriving at the N615,000 as new minimum wage.

Recall that the organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, pulled out of the negotiation meeting last week Wednesday when the government offered N48,000 as the new minimum wage.

However, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum wage, Alhaji Bukar Goni in a letter to the organized labour for a meeting tomorrow indicated interest that the government will shift ground and asked the organised labour to also shift ground.

Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, the NLC Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said that the organised labour would honour the invitation tomorrow but he advised the government to be serious.

He said, “Our expectations are that the government should be serious this time around. We expect them to take more seriously the issue of wages of workers.”

On whether labour would accept N100,000 as being insinuated, he said, “Well, it will not be fair and these are the reasons. The first reason is that when we demanded for N615,000, we broke that down. In fact, we used the barest minimum.

“For instance we put accommodation for N40,000, we also use for feeding N500, tell me where you are going to get food for N500 with a family of six. As I said, we used barest estimate but beyond that, government hiked electricity tariff by two hundred and fifty percent after we made our demand and that has introduced new cost and expenses. So if government is serious, it should not be thinking about a hundred thousand naira.

“You know that when you create poor citizens, you create a poorer county.” On his part, a member of the NLC delegation on the Tripartite Committee, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, said it would not be kind of the government to offer N100,000.

He said, “I don’t think one hundred thousand naira is a kind of thing we want because it’s far below expectation, we will accept something that can at least keep somebody alive. I don’t think a hundred thousand naira will keep a worker alive in this country a man with a family of six because our computation is based on the size of family.

“So, if they come up with that kind of amount, I don’t think we will appreciate it. In the private sector even artisans are not taking one hundred thousand a month. Whatever we accept we will look what is the income, what are they collecting, what is available to government because if government is collecting one trillion naira, we cannot ask them to pay two trillion.

“We are responsible people but the same government should know that people are suffering they will have to agree with us that there is crisis, that something needs to be done to create wealth, that something needs to be done for Nigeria to be a producing country and not a consuming nation.

“Something needs to be done to reduce the cost of governance. We are supposed to be partners in governance, after all we are the labourers.”

Asked to give reason why labour may not accept one hundred thousand, he said, “If we see that that hundred thousand is affordable, if we see that they can afford more, we will reject it. They have to tell us why they cannot pay N615,000, the onus is on them to tell us why, then we will sit down and say okay you don’t have the money but we will also know why you don’t have the money because Nigeria is a country that is naturally endowed but something is wrong, how do you make sure you get the money so that when we come again in two years time, you won’t tell us the same story?

“What are you doing to create wealth, how are you going to partner with us to create wealth instead of being wasteful, how are you going to partner with us to reduce cost of governance. If a father comes home and says the only money he has is one thousand naira and you know that the father is not wasting the money, you will manage but if it is when the father comes and he is eating food bought from the fast food joint and it cost N10,000 and he gives one thousand to the entire family to go and look for food and cook for themselves, he may be beaten up, the family may refuse it.

“The letter they wrote to us they said that both parties should shift ground, that means they will shift ground and they are expecting us to shift ground but the question is, what ground are they shifting, are they going to shift ground by two naira or two thousand naira to make it N50,000 or are they going to shift ground by N62,000 to make it N100,000 or by N150,000 or N200,000 to make it N300,000 plus.

“The point here is, this thing we are doing is not rocket science, the government should sit down and calculate how much it will cost, what is a befitting wage for an average Nigeria? They should breakdown what they are giving us because even in salaries, you break everything down. So when you break it down, they will tell us whether they are going to put one thousand naira per month for transport and two thousand naira per month for food.

“That N48,000 they are offering, they should have broken it down so if there are certain things they don’t want to make provision for, for instance health, if they say if any worker is sick they person should go and die or they don’t want to make provision for food, let them just put standard things.

“The problem here is that, you asked someone to tighten his belt, you said there is no money but you removed subsidy. Since they removed subsidy, FAAC has been collecting almost three times of what they were collecting before subsidy. That money you are collecting, what are you doing with it?

“You now said you want to build coastal highway when the existing roads to the same location are not passable, you are budgeting trillions of naira, you want to build Lagos-Sokoto brand new Highway, you want to put billions for hajj subsidy, you bought 200 vehicles for Customs and this is somebody that is complaining that naira is having issues but you now want to spend hundreds billions to import Toyota cars for Customs, why can’t you buy made-in Nigeria vehicles?

“This whole thing doesn’t make any meaning, we don’t even understand it. They are behaving as if they have money but they don’t know what to do with it like General Yakubu Gowon said in the 70s. You bought 200 Toyota Jeeps for Customs, it means you really do have the money but you don’t know what to do with it. But one thing you don’t want to do with the money is to feed Nigerians, feed your workers, make your workers comfortable.

“And as you can see, they are not even giving anybody hope. There is no programme for agriculture, government is not declaring emergency on power, food security, transportation.

“So what we are expecting is that, if they tell us they cannot pay N625,000, they should tell us why they cannot pay, this is negotiation. If we have told them to pay N615,000, what we expect government to calculate how many workers that are expected to receive this minimum wage.

“We did our research, you now say each state has this workforce, this is what they are now getting as revenue forget the fact that some of them are not doing anything to increase their IGR. Whatever they are getting now from the money coming from the federal revenue account, the federal government should say, this is the number of workers that we have, this is how much that you are asking, at the end of the day, this is how much we are expected to spend as salary and this is how much we have.

“So, NLC please look at it, we don’t want to spend this percent on salary, we will then sit down and ask, if you don’t want to spend it on salary, you want to spend it by importing vehicles for Customs when you have locally manufactured vehicles that won’t cost capital flight.”

He, however said that if the government comes out with something”relevant “, the organised labour will shift ground as asked.

“We must discuss with them that the figure presented is realistic and based on facts and statistics as the organised labour has done,” he said.

He said, “For provision of food for one person, we put N500 but there is a survey carried out by the National Bureau for Statistics covering all parts of the country, NBS is the custodian of statistics and it came out with that in today Nigeria, the average you can spend for a meal is N900.

“But we went low, we took the minimum. Their average is N900 but we took the minimum of N500, that is you cannot go below the N500. So you can see how realistic we are. So we will insist that government breakdown every item. Food, hospital, accommodation, transportation etc.

“We don’t want anyone to come and say that the NLC and the TUC presented arbitrary figure.”
VANGUARD

Related Topics:#FG Labour NLC organised labour

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Bauchi Govt Sensitises 14,000 LG Staff On Promotion Examination

Published

3 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Editor

The Bauchi State Local Government Service Commission has conducted a 2-day Sensitisation workshop for 14,000 local government staff on how to excel in the forthcoming promotion examination.

Speaking before the commencement of the workshop, Alh. Abubakar Wabi, the Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, said that the importance of the workshop for the LG workers could not be over-emphasised.

He said according to the tenets of examination policy, the main thrust of the exam, apart from paving the way for promotion, was to acquaint the staff with regulatory professional and general knowledge.

This, he added, contributed immensely in boosting their capacity and reading culture as well as increase effective performance of their duties for efficient service delivery.

According to him, the administration of Gov. Bala Mohammed of the state has resolved to sustain the examination policy and do everything within its reach to strengthen it for the benefit of civil servants and the Civil Service.

“The conduct of this sensitisation workshop is therefore a continued demonstration of the governor’s commitment and concern towards the upliftment of Local Governments as well as human capital development,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Nasir Dewu, the Overseeing Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission, said promotion examination has the main merit of keeping staff up-to-date with the staff regulations, procedures and General Knowledge.

These, he said, were vital for ensuring effective, efficient and productive Local Government Service.

“I am happy to inform you that the success witnessed in the 2023 edition of the examination held in 2024 is a further signal that the policy is a worthwhile one.”

He commended governor Mohammed for his commitment to ensure the examination policy’ success in the state.

Dewu urged the participants to reciprocate the kind gestures of the governor by being more dedicated to duties as well as contributing immensely in the revamping efforts of the Local Government Service.

In his address, Alh. Gambo Magaji, Dugge Management Services Limited (DMSL) the Consultant of the promotion examination, called on the participants to listen attentively to the papers that would be presented during the workshop.

Magaji, who said that the resource persons were experienced retired and serving technocrats billed to prepare them for the examination and beyond, added that the examination questions won’t be outside of what they would be taught.

The sensitisation workshop was carried out to help the staff writing the 2024 promotion examination on December 27 to excel.

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Edo SSG Calls On Media To Support Govt Policies, Assures Better Welfare

Published

5 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Editor

L-R: Government House Public Relations Officer (PRO); Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Patrick Ebojele, Ph.D; Secretary to Edo State Government, Musa Ikhilor; Special Adviser to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Mr. Paul Ezewon during the courtesy visit.

The Secretary to the Edo State Government (SSG), Umar Musa Ikhilor, has called on members of the media to continue to support government policies and programmes through objective, professional and balanced reportage, describing them as critical stakeholders in governance.

Ikhilor made the call while receiving members of the Governor’s Press Crew, Edo State Government House, led by the Chief Press Secretary, Ebojele Akhere Patrick, PhD, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office as part of the season’s greetings.

Responding, Ikhilor expressed gratitude for the gesture, noting that it was thoughtful and symbolic.

According to him, the media plays an indispensable role in governance and public accountability.

He said, “Whatever it is that we do, it still will not matter much if we do not have you guys to be our eyes and our ears to report some of those things so that Edo people will be aware and people globally will be aware, and that is where you come in very important.”

The SSG further emphasized the strategic role of journalists, describing them as the fourth estate of the realm.

Ikhilor stated, “Because without the press, the government is blind, deaf and dumb. You are the ones we can see with and you are the ones we can hear with and talk with as well. So we consider you very critical stakeholders in the affairs of governance. That is the sincere sentiment of the government,”

He acknowledged the challenges faced by the media, particularly poor working conditions, and assured that the government was aware and already taking steps to address them.

He said, “Your working conditions have not been the best one would have expected. These are some of the things we have made recommendations to His Excellency the Governor, and he has promised from next year, after this budget by January, with a new budget that is coming, there will be something substantial to cater for the media.”

Explaining the initial constraints of the administration, Ikhilor noted that spending was limited by budgetary provisions inherited at the time the government assumed office.

He explained, “When we came in, we met a budget already prepared. We just tried and tinkered with it to pass it as at then November–December. Once you don’t have an appropriation, you can’t spend. That would be a criminal offence,”

The SSG urged journalists to remain professional and committed to truth, regardless of circumstances.

He said, “Your responsibility as a journalist, your first training, your first duty, is the pursuit of truth wherever you find it. Reporting should not be based on a special relationship. Professionalism actually means you are consistent and you deliver, whether the day is good or the day is bad.”

He encouraged the media to continue to support government policies and programmes through accurate and diligent reporting, stressing the importance of teamwork in effective communication.

Commending the press crew, Ikhilor added, “I have seen exceptional reports from a lot of reporters here. Our camera men have done very well in terms of proper coverage. Everybody needs to work together as a team for the story to come alive and for the story to be complete.”

Earlier, while presenting a gift on behalf of the team to the SSG in appreciation of his leadership and support, the Chief Press Secretary, Ebojele Akhere Patrick, PhD, said, “In the spirit of the season, I present this to you on behalf of the Governor’s Press Crew in appreciation of your effort as the engine room of government.”

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Forest Reserve: Okpebholo Broker Peace Between Host Communities, Investors

Published

18 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Editor

Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo state on Wednesday brokered peace between host communities and investors on the use of government forest reserve land for agricultural purposes and investors.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Hon Dennis Idahosa, appealed to the various stakeholders to always tow the line of peace at all times

Okpebholo noted that by virtue of the Land Use Act, the land in dispute belongs to the Edo state government.

The governor blamed activities of the previous administration of the state for the hostility between the investors and the host communities over the land that spreads across Ovia South West and Ovia North East Local Government Areas.

He accused the previous administration of arbitrarily allocating the said forest reserve to investors to without due consultation with host communities of Iguomon, Egbetta and Usen.

He stated that the meeting with stakeholders became expedient in order to straighten out facts and restrategize.

“We had three investors that want to invest in oil palm production in the council areas, which is in line with the vision of Governor Monday Okpebholo to turn the state into investment heaven.

“Today, we met with the critical stakeholders of Ovia South West and Ovia North East to ensure all interests are captured.

“The investors were here, the community leaders, led by the Elawure of Usen, Oba Wilson Oluogbe II, and Palace Chiefs all came.

“Initially, a 5 percent buffer was proposed by the previous administration, but based on the conversation we had today, the investors agreed to increase to 10 percent.

“Haven put into consideration that Ovia is an agrarian area, with 80 percent of people relying on subsistence farming for survival,” he stated.

Okpebholo maintained that part of the resolution involved the raising of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by investors with their host communities to keep all parties involved in decision making.

IHe declared, “Our administration is people oriented. The interest of investors are paramount to us as well as the interest of our people.”

The Secretary to the Edo State Government (SSG), Musa Ikhilor stated that before the said land allocation to investors, the previous administration was supposed to have carried out diligent studies and a NEEDS assessment in relations to the communities.

He said basic steps ought to have been followed, such as meetings with Community Development Associations (CDA) with agreements reached on community development.

Historically, Ikhilor said Usen community started as a farm stead hence the need to carry such a community along in decision making on issues that affect their means of livelihood.

He further encouraged investors to engage in Corporate Social rlResponsibility (CSR) acts as well as put in place activities that promote job creation and general welfare of their host.

The Elawure of Usen, Oba Wilson Oluogbe II praised the Edo State Government for its intervention.

He appealed for communities to be carried along when critical decisions are being made, especially on issues that affect their livelihood.

The investors, included: Nimbel Shaw Limited; Professional Support Farms Limited and Steve Integrated Limited, commended Edo state government for the peaceful resolution of the matter.