The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has demanded payment of a new minimum wage of N200,000 monthly owing to the hardship faced by Nigerians, with the removal of petrol subsidy.
TUC also demanded that the government reverted to the old N185 pump price of petrol per litre to allow for a conducive environment for negotiation.
According to a statement, the President and Secretary General of TUC, Festus Osifo and Nuhu Toro, respectively said: “For immediate implementation: Status quo ante of PMS pump price should be maintained while discussion continues.
“The minimum wage should be increased from the current N30,000 to N200,000 before the end of June 2023, with consequential adjustments on the Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA ), like feeding, transport, housing, etc.
“A representative of state governors will be party to this communiqué and all the governors must commit to implement the new minimum wage.
“Tax holiday for employees both in government and private sector that earn less than N200,000 or 500USD monthly whichever is higher. PMS allowance to be introduced for those earning between N200,000 and N500,000 or 500USD to 1,200USD whichever is higher.
“The exchange rate for retailing PMS in the country must be kept within a limit of two per cent for the next 10 years where the fluctuation is more than two per cent, the minimum wage will automatically increase at the same rate.
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“Setting up of intervention fund where the government will be paying N10 per litre on all locally consumed PMS. The primary purpose of this fund is to solve perennial and protracted national issues in education, health and housing. A governance structure that will include labour, civil society and government will be put in place to manage the implementation.
“Federal government should provide mass transit vehicles for all categories of the populace. State governments should immediately set up a subsidized transportation system to reduce the pressure on workers and students. The framework around this will be worked out.”
Meanwhile, former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani reacted to the proposition of an increase in the National Minimum Wage from N30,000 to N200,000 via Twitter on Monday night.
According to Sani. the proposition of N200,000 as the new minimum wage sounds good but it is unrealistic.
The former lawmaker reminded the TUC that many states are not yet paying the current minimum wage, except the Federal Government will print more money.
He tweeted: “200k as minimum wage sounds good, but the proponents need to be reminded that many states are not yet paying the 30k. Except if the Government will print more money.”
