Although the country has only just come out of a recession, most members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions believe that the implementation of a new minimum wage is a foregone conclusion.
Even the government seems to have accepted, in principle, that a new minimum wage regime has to be rolled out for workers.
The Federal Government and the National Assembly would seem to have both accepted that the prices of goods and services in the country are alarmingly high and that something has to be done about the plight of workers.
The current N18,000 minimum wage is certainly in need of review because it is hardly enough to sustain the average family for a week.
However, before a new minimum wage is agreed, it is necessary for the organised labour, the legislature and the executive, as well as economists, to sit down and agree on a new minimum wage that states and the Federal Government, as well as private companies, will be able to pay.
Oluwafunke Adebayo,
Ibadan,
Oyo State.
and then