The Joe Ajaero-led faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the union will not sign any agreement on a new minimum wage that will not be implementable.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, Ajaero said the ability to pay the proposed new wage was the purpose of any minimum wage agreement, saying “no labour leader will sign an agreement that cannot be realistic.”
The Ajaero faction had proposed a minimum wage of N90, 000 while the Ayuba Wabba-led group demanded for N56, 000.
“From what has happened (fuel price hike), we can see that N56, 000 is not realistic. If we are talking about a certain percentage of inflation given all other indices, now it has worsened and has sky rocketed. But N90, 000 is still realistic if we take other factors into consideration.
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”If the exchange rate remains the same, and its effect is only on fuel and maybe people selling garri will change. But if it increases you will discover that the N90, 000 minimum wages will be messed up, so we are just taking N90,000 in isolation,” Ajaero said.
