The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has dismissed the federal government’s approved 35% pay rise for civil servants as ‘mischievous’.
NLC President Joe Ajaero, in a Channels Television interview on Wednesday, argued that the living wage should be N615,000 News About Nigeria reports.
It can be recalled that the federal government approved a pay raise of between 25 and 35 percent for civil servants on Tuesday.
However, Ajaero pointed out that the last minimum wage of N30,000 expired on April 18, and discussions for a new minimum wage should have been concluded.
Ajaero accused the federal government of stalling the process and announcing a pay raise without reconvening the meeting.
He emphasised that organised labour has agreed on N615,000 as the living wage for civil servants.
He said, “We should be in the regime of the new minimum wage as of today. Discussions were supposed to have been concluded.
“The federal government, through the national assembly, legislated on it. But we saw that the discussion entered voice mail because the federal government refused to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned.
“I think the announcement now appears mischievous because there is no wage increase that the government is announcing. For them to announce it now, it is an issue that we are worried about at the NLC and even at the TUC.”
The NLC leader said, “Living wage is such that will, at least keep you alive. It is not a wage that will make you poor and poorer. It is not a wage that will make you borrow to go to work. It is not a wage that will lead you to be in the hospital everyday because of malnutrition. For that living wage, we have tried to look at N615,000.
“Let me give you a breakdown of how we arrived at that figure. We have housing and accommodation of N40,000. We asked for electricity of N20,000 — of course that was before the current tariff increase. Nobody can spend this amount currently. We have utility that is about N10,000. We looked at kerosene and gas that is about N25,000 to N35,000.
“We looked at food for a family of six, that is about N9,000 in a day. For 30 days, that is about N270,000. Look at medical, N50,000 provided there will be no surgery or whatever.
“For clothing, we looked at N20,000. For education, N50,000. I don’t know for those who tried to put their children in private school, they will not be able to cope with this amount. We also have sanitation of N10,000.
“I think where we have another bulk of the money is transportation. This is because the workers stay in the fringes and because of the cost of PMS, that amounted to N110,000.
“That brought the whole living wage to N615,000 and I want anyone to subject this to further investigation and find out whether there will be any savings when you pay somebody on this rate.”
Recall that organised labour, in April, called on the Federal Government to announce a new minimum wage on May 1.
The National Vice President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim, had described Workers’ Day as Christmas Day for workers
He said, “The Workers’ Day is a type of Christmas Day to Nigerian workers and there are lots of expectations. The welfare of workers is paramount and should be taken into consideration. It is also expected that lots of incentives will be rolled out to cushion the effects of the policies initiated by the government which have continued to limit the purchasing power of workers and Nigerians as a whole.
“Presently, the purchasing power is weak in the country. It is also expected that a new minimum wage will be announced on that day. Workers are looking forward to that. Also, we expect that the government finally use the opportunity to launch the CNG buses which it promised over a year ago. These are our expectations.”
