₦70,000 Is The Nigerian Minimum Wage For The Next Three Years

The new minimum wage was signed into law by the president on 29th July 2024.

Even though there were occasions when it appeared an agreement would not be reached, a positive outcome was realised for all parties involved i.e. Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Organised Private Sector (OPS) and the Federal Government (FG).

Summary of the outcome reached.

Not only was the minimum wage increased from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000, it will now be reviewed every three years rather than five years.

This will reduce the time in-between negotiations and enable the monetary reward for labour to keep up adjustments with developments in the economy. It's always easy to forget the battles and process to get to an end outcome but suffice to say that it took the President getting involved to facilitate getting a deal across the finishing line.

The journey to get here.

At the start of negotiations in early 2024, there was a wide margin between the proposed figure from the NLC and the FG/OPS. NLC started with a figure of ₦615,000 whilst the FG/OPS figures were respectively ₦48,000/ ₦57,000 with the OPS later increasing theirs to ₦60,000. Eventually two figures were submitted to the President as a result of disagreement among the FG, OPS and NLC. While the FG and the OPS offered N62,000 the NLC demanded N250,000.

A meeting between the President and NLC resulted in a figure of ₦70,000 with the FG stating that there will be help for the OPS so that the burden of paying the amount agreed is not too much, for example in the form of tax waivers and concessions for the OPS. Also there will be ongoing investment by the FG in infrastructure, renewable energy and acquisition of more CNG buses including reducing inflation so the impact for Nigerians will be to provide more succour to our needs beyond the monetary value of the minimum wage.

Overall getting an agreement is a significant win for all Nigerians.

Everyone that took part in the minimum wage negotiations should be applauded because this was no easy feat but it shows where there's a will there's always a way.

Well done to all - onwards and upwards for the future.