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Lawmaker Pushes For N150,000 Minimum Wage, Appeals To Tinubu

Published

6 months ago

Jun 20, 2024.

The Lawmaker representing Nasarawa West Senatorial District at the Upper Legislative chamber, Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada has called on President Bola Tinubu to approve at least ₦150,000 as the new national minimum wage.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Wadda made the call while speaking with newsmen in Keffi local government area (LGA) of Nassarawa State.

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The Social Democratic Party of Nigeria (SDP) chieftain asserted that the economic situation in the country is the reason he is making such a demand.

File Image of Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada

His words: “I have expressed my opinion in the past on the issue and I am going to reiterate it here. “For me as a person, the minimum a worker should earn is N150,000, looking at the realities of today.”

Speaking further, Wadada stated that he and other lawmakers were willing to make sacrifices in terms of reduction of their remunerations and allowances just to ensure Nigerian workers earned decent monthly salaries.

He added: “At worst, it should be higher than what the government is currently offering.”

Recall that Nigerian workers, under the umbrellas of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are waiting on the federal government and national assembly to meet their demand on the proposed minimum wage.

The protracted negotiation over the new minimum wage had earlier seen the Labour unions embarking on a nationwide strike.

Labour Leaders at a minimum Wage Negotiation Meeting With Government representative and organized private sector

Although the strike action lasted only a day before being suspended, it paralyzed economic activities throughout the country, shutting down airports, Schools, Hospitals, the National Assembly, and even the national grid.

Initially, Labour demanded a new minimum wage of ₦615,000, later reducing it to ₦494,000 as negotiations dragged on, and finally lowering the demand to ₦250,000.

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However, the government and the Organized Private Sector have maintained offers significantly below Labour’s quotations.

The government first proposed ₦57,000, but after strong resistance and industrial action by labour unions, it increased the offer to ₦62,000, stating it could not go beyond this limit for fiscal reasons.

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