President Bola Tinubu may announce a new minimum wage on May 1, to commemorate the International Labour Day, according to a Business Day report.
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The implementation of the new minimum wage will be backdated to April. Media reports indicate that the National Minimum Wage Committee are making efforts to finalize negotiations with regard to the new rate so the president can make the announcement of the new wage during his Workers’ Day address.
The minimum wage in Nigeria is ₦30,000 and has been so since 2018, despite demands for increase by the labour union.
Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that employers are legally required to pay their employees for the period of work.
A member of the National Minimum Wage Committee who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the committee would be meeting next week to collate all reports from the zonal public hearings upon which subsequent actions would be discussed.
“Our target is to ensure that Mr President announces the minimum wage by the 1st of May, which is the Workers’ Day, for it to take effect from April. So, we are working to meet the timeline,” the member said.
The committee noted that after collating all reports and some adjustments, the committee will have a private meeting with the president and state governors so that a resolution could be made.
In January, the Federal Government inaugurated the tripartite committee responsible for deliberating on the national minimum wage which was inaugurated by Vice President Kashim Shettima. A 37-member panel was constituted at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.
During zonal public hearings in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Abuja, workers in the North-West requested N485,000; North-East, N560,000; North-Central, N709,000 (NLC) and N447,000 (TUC); South-West, N794,000; South-South, N850,000; and South-East, N540,000 by the NLC and N447,000 by the TUC.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur