The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the new minimum wage may be negotiated to N100,000 or N200,000 owing to the rising cost of living.

While the union and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had planned to go on strike on Tuesday owing to the impact of the fuel subsidy removal, they shelved it following a meeting with government authorities in Abuja late Monday.

But according to the President of the NLC Joe Ajaero, the move was to give the government time to fulfill its part of the agreement reached with organised labour, adding that the N35,000 wage award – part of the government’s offers – is not a new minimum wage which he said may be up to N200,000.

“So, it is not a minimum wage but it is a wage added to the minimum wage. So, should we in March, April, or before that time negotiate the new wage to be N100,000 or N200,000, it would be inscribed as minimum wage law which should be the law in existence,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today. 

Maintaining that the N35,000 wage award is not an addition to the country’s minimum wage of N30,000, the NLC chief said many factors would be considered in arriving at a new minimum wage.

“Certain things would come into play when we discuss it – inflation, cost of living. Every other thing would come into it,” he added. “We would not go to ask for N65,000. We would go for a realistic amount because N65,000 is about $70 which is not up to minimum wage.”

According to him, for a new minimum wage to take effect, the National Assembly will play a crucial role.

“The minimum wage is a product of law. Until it is legislated in the National Assembly, it is not a minimum wage,” Ajaero argued.