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Former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said anything less than ₦100,000 minimum wage is insufficient for Nigerian workers given the current economic condition.
Sani stated this while appealing to the Federal Government to meet the demands of labour unions regarding the minimum wage, noting that the ₦48,000 proposal is unrealistic.
He made these known during a discussion on the debacle between the Federal Government and organised Labour over the minimum wage in a recent interview on Arise TV.
During the week, labour unions walked out of the ongoing minimum wage negotiations with the government and Organised Private Sector.
They said the government failed to show seriousness following its proposal of ₦48,000, a far cry from ₦615,000 demanded by organised labour.
Sani urges FG to meet labour halfway
In his submission, the former lawmaker argued that the government had the resources to pay a reasonable minimum wage.
Sani also maintained that a living wage for the labourers was not a bad idea, urging the government to up its proposal to meet the labour unions halfway.
“I don’t know how a Nigerian can survive with less than N100,000. If you break down what the government is offering N45,000-48,000, you will see how unrealistic it is by the time you factor in many things. The position taken by labour should be considered by the government.
“It is one thing agreeing to increase the minimum wage and then the capacity to pay. Let us not forget that in the last few years, the government has been finding it difficult to even pay the ones that they already have on paper, so how this could be reflected should be considered.
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“But from what we have learnt since the withdrawal of subsidy, the government has more money and there’s no better way to effectively and productively spend it than to increase the minimum wage of Nigerian workers to a reasonable point where he can adequately take care of his family.
“Economic reforms are taking place in this country, there are consequences for the reforms. They are supposed to be sacrifices but it should be across the board.
“Workers are seeing that money is coming in trillions, they want their own share. When a nation subsidises, it makes more value for wages but when they are removed, you have to pay for it,” he said.