The South-East chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have jointly proposed new minimum wage figures of N540,000 and N447,000, respectively, for civil servants in the region.
This proposition was put forward on Thursday during the South-East Zonal hearing organized by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in Enugu State.
Representing the NLC in the region, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo, the Chairman of the NLC Enugu State Chapter, highlighted the urgent need for an upward review of the minimum wage. He emphasized that the current value of the N30,000 minimum wage, which came into effect in 2019, has been significantly eroded by inflation.
Nwigbo expressed concern over the deteriorating purchasing power of Nigerian workers, stating that they are allegedly among the least paid in the entire West African region.
He elaborated, “For us, we want to propose based on the prices of commodities in Nigeria. In 2019 when we had N30, 000 minimum wage, a paint bucket of garri was N280, rice and beans were about N450 each while fuel was N145.
“This has continued to subsist till today where a litre of fuel is now N750 to N800 depending on the location.
“In the current state, a paint bucket of rice is over N4000 and garri N2,500.
“While a two bedroom flat in Enugu that used to be N250, 000-N300,000 is over N650,000 at the suburb and in the city it stands at N1.2 million yearly”.
