The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the South-South region has proposed N850,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country.
The chairperson of NLC in Akwa Ibom, Sunny James, disclosed the position of labour in the region at a public hearing on the new wage structure held on Tuesday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The event was streamed live on Facebook.
Mr James expressed displeasure that some states in the region are yet to implement the current N30,000 minimum wage which was last reviewed in 2019.
He did not, however, mention the affected states.
Mr James wondered how state governments in the region, whom he said budgeted higher allocation for running the government more than other sectors of the economy could not pay a minimum wage.
As a penalty for contravention, Mr James called for the impeachment and imprisonment of governors who are insensitive to the payment of minimum wage.
“The Nigerian worker is calling for a decent work environment and living wage that is commensurate to their labour,” Mr James said.
He lamented that there is “anger and hunger” in the land since President Bola Tinubu declared an end to fuel subsidy in his inaugural address in May last year.
He called on Mr Tinubu to create an environment for business to grow by providing power supply, repair refineries and also build new modular refineries.
Rowdy session
Ibom Hall, venue of the public hearing was peaceful until a presentation by the chairperson of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in state, Kingsley Bassey.
Mr Bassey was booed for proposing a minimum wage of N447,000 as against N850,000 earlier proposed by the NLC.
The hall became rowdy as labour members refused the plea of the master of the ceremony to allow Mr Bassey complete his presentation.
It took the intervention of the secretary of the Federal Government Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee, Ekpo Nta, before Mr Bassey was allowed to continue his presentation.
Mr Nta, a former chairperson of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission appealed that every participant should be given an opportunity to speak and that harmonisation will be done in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
President Tinubu had in January inaugurated a 37-man national minimum wage committee with a mandate to recommend a new minimum wage for the country.
The committee is holding public hearing simultaneously in all the six geo-political zones in the country today to seek inputs from the public on a new minimum wage structure.
Based on extant laws, the minimum wage in the country is subject to review every five years.
The current N30,000 minimum wage became effective in 2019. The new minimum wage implementation is expected begin in April this year according to labour leaders.