Minimum Wage: Pay FAAC Allocations Of Defaulting States To Workers – TUC Tells FG

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is currently working on introducing a clause in the negotiations for a new minimum wage that would penalize state governments for failing to adhere to the revised minimum wage once it is established.

Naija News reports that TUC President, Festus Osifo, disclosed this development during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.

Osifo outlined a strategy where the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) could be authorized to directly disburse salaries to workers in states where governors neglect the newly agreed minimum wage payment.

This action aims to ensure compliance and safeguard workers’ economic well-being across the nation.

“We are designing a system as part of this new minimum wage negotiation on sanctioning. That when a new minimum wage is passed, there must be sanctions to governors that are not being responsive, may be their FAAC allocations, may be the Federal Government can pay some monies directly to the workers instead of giving it to the states,” stated Osifo.

Highlighting the inadequacy of the current minimum wage of N30,000 in meeting the needs of an average Nigerian worker, Osifo lamented that not all governors are up to date with this wage, which is set for review in April—five years after the enactment of the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

This review is a statutory requirement to adjust wages per contemporary economic conditions.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the TUC have been vocal in urging President Bola Tinubu’s administration to accelerate the review process for wage adjustments.

In response, the Federal Government had earlier constituted a 37-member Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage to deliberate on and propose a new wage structure for the country.

With the TUC advocating for a new monthly minimum wage of N447,000 per worker, and the NLC proposing N794,000, Osifo emphasized the dire impact of inflation on the living standards of Nigerian workers.

He argued that state governments, buoyed by increased FAAC allocations, are financially capable of meeting these wage demands.

“This is a demand that we have put forward. Look at the states, as at April (2023), what was shared as Federal Allocation was somewhere around N400bn but as at last month (February), what was shared was close to N2trn,” Osifo highlighted.