The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has given reasons why the organised labour is fronting N615, 000 as new national minimum wage.
The NLC said the breakdown of the N615,000 include Housing/Accommodation at N40,000 a month; Electricity/Power at N20,000 a month; Utility/Water at N10,000; Kerosene/Gas at N35,000; Food at N9,000 a day multiplied by 30 days (month) N270,000; Medicals for a month at N50,000; Clothing for a month at N20,000; education for a month at N50,000; sanitation for a month at N10,000; and transportation for a month at N110,000.
In the statement by the NLC President Joe Ajaero, said the N615,000 excludes expenses or expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.
According to him, the listed above are, therefore, just for the bare necessities.
The NLC in a statement entitled “2024 National Minimum Wage negotiation: How we arrived at N615,000,” also countered the government’s position that the upcoming new minimum wage would take effect from May 1.
It said the new minimum wage began on April 19, adding, “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians, who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615,000 new National Minimum Wage is based.
“The figure is a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.
“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.
“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.
“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the state councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.
“In the items and cost, we hope that this will enable Nigerians to understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.
“We deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature. However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc. These are, therefore, just for the bare necessities.
“It should be noted that we arrived at the figure of N615,000 before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.
“Any figure below the N615,000 amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.
“We have to remember that the old minimum wage has expired on April 18, 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on April 19, 2024.
“However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.
“We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.
“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”
