Minimum Wage: Labour Issues Fresh Demand To Government

Workers Demand Living Wage

A section of the organized labour in Nigeria has lamented the continued delay in the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage to Nigerian workers.

The labour union further demanded the payment of a decent living wage to workers instead of the minimum wage which has been dragging for long.

Naija News reports President Muhammadu Buhari had in April 2019 signed the N30,000 minimum wage into law for Nigerian workers but negotiations are still on over the implementation.

This online medium gathered that the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), speaking through its National Public Relations Officer Abdussobur Salaam in Abuja on Wednesday at the first memorial lecture in honour of the late Adoro Obiageli of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), has however made an urgent call for the implementation of the new wage regime and an end to the disparity of workers’ wages.

In his words, “We believe so much that there are too many inequalities in the country and that the absence of social justice has also been a major problem that has affected the nation.

“And the only solution is to establish a social justice in this country and bridge the inequality gap between the rich and the poor.

“The N30,000 new minimum wage we are talking about today is even grossly inadequate.

“This is because we have been able to discover that the minimum wage of N125 given to workers in 1981 is far better than the N30,000 that is being given now.

“Until we are able to move from the era of starvation wages to that of living wages that will be able to improve people’s lives and take care of their needs, we may not have progress in the country.”