The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced plans to engage with the federal government on strategies to help workers cope with the recent rise in petrol prices, which the union says has undermined the intended benefits of the new national minimum wage of ₦70,000.
NLC Chairman Joe Ajaero made this statement during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on “Minimum Wage Implementation Workshop, Southern Zone” held in Lagos.
The workshop, themed “Strategies for the Effective Implementation of the National Minimum Wage Law 2024,” aims to address pressing issues surrounding wage implementation and economic hardships faced by workers.
Ajaero expressed frustration with the current situation, saying that the recent increase in gasoline prices has eroded the value of the yet-to-be-implemented minimum wage.
He accused President Bola Tinubu's administration of misleading unions into accepting the ₦70,000 minimum wage under the pretext that it would prevent further increases in fuel prices.
Ajaero said: “There is a tactic to distract our attention, to insult us, to launch accusations against us for cybercrime, financing of terrorism, sponsoring of terrorism and so on.
“These things have borne fruit because while we are facing these accusations, the problem of the price of gasoline remains.
“I repeat, we were betrayed by Mr. President. Government officials deny that statement we issued about our betrayal. I repeat that we were betrayed. Some of you were here at the meeting when Mr. President said: Ajaero, you are the problem.
“Since we said the subsidy had run out, they don’t want to allow us to increase it again. If they allow me to increase it, we will pay them that ₦250,000. I immediately went out that day and was on Arise Television. I repeated what Mr. President told us.
“The President said he would give them one hour to decide on this and get back to me. He said he would go back to his office and we should make a decision on this (between the ₦250,000 minimum wage and the increase in the price of petrol).
“We told him no, Mr. President, that we could not hold our meeting here in your office. Let us take a break for a week and come back to report to you. He said okay, I would travel, but I would cancel my trip for a week. That’s how we suspended ourselves for a week.
“If the trend of those negotiations had been followed, we would have adjourned the meeting for a week. And when we came back after the consultations, we told Mr. President that no, we could not allow the salary to be increased to any degree because that would affect all Nigerians and we would be seen as selfish. Even the N250,000 would not be of any use to us. If we continue to increase the salary, we would ruin our economy and then we would continue to increase the price of petrol. In fact, that N250,000 might not even be enough to buy fuel.
“Mr President also offered to finance our trip to some West African countries where the lowest price of petrol is 1,700 naira. He even said that in Cameroon they sell it at 2,000 naira and that none of them have a refinery, but they get their products from Nigeria.
“We told him to check the borders because that is why they are smuggling these products to those countries. We also told him no because the Nigerians will say that they have given us money, they will not say that it is money for us to visit those West African states.
“On the postponed date, we went there and told Mr. President that we are not here to increase the price of petrol or to negotiate. So let us focus on the minimum wage. Some of these things were the basis for the acceptance of a minimum wage of ₦70,000 which some of us here said was not enough. But some people are still saying that they cannot afford that ₦70,000.
“This is the dilemma we all face. In fact, the private sector employers who were present at our meeting made it very difficult for us. They refused to budge and wanted to vote with the state government, the federal government and the private sector on one side, and all against the workers on the other. These were some of the things that made all those strikes you saw necessary.”
