The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the federal authorities’s place that negotiations for a brand new nationwide minimal wage ought to wait till 2027.
The labour centre insisted that the federal government should start the executive course of now reasonably than wait till the present N70,000 minimal wage association approaches its expiration.
The NLC additional accused the federal government of misinterpreting the National Minimum Wage Act, arguing that commencing negotiations is completely different from implementing a brand new wage.
In a letter signed by its president, Comrade Joe Ajaero and addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Dingyadi, the NLC mentioned negotiations ought to begin in October 2026, forward of the federal government’s proposed timeline.
The newest dispute adopted the minister’s 12 October response, during which the federal authorities maintained that the present minimal wage, signed into legislation by President Bola Tinubu in July 2024, was due for assessment on 1 June 2027.
LEADERSHIP reported that the NLC had issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal authorities on 9 October 2026, demanding a discount in petrol costs to 2024 ranges, the graduation of minimal wage negotiations earlier than the top of October, fast tax aid, and the fee of wage awards.
It additionally demanded the implementation of the 5 February 2026 settlement with JOHESU and the decision of the JPSNC’s excellent calls for.
Dingyadi had argued that beginning one other assessment barely two years into the implementation of the present wage can be untimely, inconsistent with the legislation and probably disruptive to industrial relations.
“By the extant authorized framework, the life span of the present National Minimum Wage will expire and change into due for assessment on 1 June 2027.
Commencing a recent assessment train barely two years into the implementation of the present wage, which represented over a 133% improve from the earlier N30,000, can be untimely, inconsistent with the legislation and disruptive to the orderly industrial relations system envisaged by the Act”, the minister mentioned within the letter.
But the NLC rejected that reasoning, insisting that ready till the federal government’s most well-liked timeline might delay the negotiation course of and expose employees to extended monetary hardship amid rising residing prices.
“The government is not being asked to implement a new wage today, but to commence the process of negotiation,” Ajaero mentioned within the letter.
The congress defined that preliminary steps, together with inviting nominations from stakeholders, inaugurating the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee and setting the agenda for negotiations, ought to start effectively earlier than the expiration of the present wage association.
It argued that the unique National Minimum Wage Act, signed on 18 April 2019, established a statutory framework that ought to information preparations for the subsequent wage assessment.
According to the labour centre, negotiations ought to begin at the least six months earlier than the present association expires.
“Your letter states that the ministry is “engaging relevant MDAs” and can convene the Tripartite Committee “at the appropriate time.” The time is now. The acceptable time is now. Procrastination is not a coverage alternative; it’s a direct harm to the survival of the Nigerian employee.
The federal authorities’s response, whereas immediate, is clearly out of contact with the existential actuality of the Nigerian employee.
We are struggling greater than ever earlier than, and we want pressing, direct and important intervention, which the federal government is able to doing if it summons the mandatory will”, Ajaero mentioned.
We’ve bought the sting. Get real-time stories, breaking scoops, and unique angles delivered straight to your cellphone. Don’t accept stale information. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for twenty-four/7 updates →
