Why NLC may reject Sanwo-Olu’s N85,000 minimum wage – Chairperson

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Lagos State chapter, Agnes Funmi, has said the labour union could reject the N85,000 minimum wage offered by the state government if another state declared a higher amount.

The PUNCH reports that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said his government was planning to pay Lagos civil servants N85,000 as minimum wage.

Sanwo-Olu disclosed this on Wednesday evening during an interview on Channels TV with the theme ‘One-On-One with Babajide Sanwo-Olu.’

“I’m glad to let you know that the minimum wage for Lagos which we’ve discussed with our union is N85,000 today. It’s not a competition, so I’m not going to say that we’re paying more than some other people, it’s a function of affordability and a function of capacity.
“We actually increased our salary earlier in the year and it’s deserving for our staff, and we’ll continue to do that.

“Seun, I will want to come back to you in January and say that I’ve been able to increase the minimum wage of Lagos to N100,000. (This is) not because I want to make anybody look bad, it’s really because I want my people to have a living wage,” the governor said while answering questions from the TV anchor, Seun Okinbaloye.

Reacting in an interview on Wednesday, the state chairperson of the NLC, Agnes, told The PUNCH that the union welcomed the idea but gave conditions for rejecting it.
“Since he is not paying anything below the minimum, we don’t have a choice but to accept, because they also said they have other competing interests like they have their facilities being overstretched because of the population.

“The reason we agree to the N85,000 for now is that we also want the governor to provide infrastructure. We have infrastructure like the rail services.”
We can even put our vehicles at home and enter the rail. It (the minimum wage) is the highest for now,” she told our correspondent.

The NLC chairperson said the union had been in a dialogue with the government.

“But if there is any state that will declare more than N85,000 tomorrow, we will reject that N85,000. We accept it because we have seen that the government is doing so much infrastructure for now. They are providing rail lines and alternative transportation systems.

“We are also dialoguing and discussing with the government on the provision of affordable housing for workers,” she said.

Insisting on why the NLC would reject the current minimum wage offer, Agnes said, “We want to tell the government that if tomorrow there is any state that declares more than N85,000, we will reject it in totality.”
Sanwo-Olu’s commitment came amid negotiations between state governments and organised labour on the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently declared that his administration would commence the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage once the issue of consequential salary adjustment had been addressed.

The PUNCH reported on Tuesday that Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, approved the sum of N77,000 as minimum wage in the state. The Delta State government also approved N77,500 for workers.