NLC: It is not all about the minimum wage

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the sum of N70,000 as the new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers in July 2024, he actually moved the wage payable to the least public worker in Nigeria by 133 per cent as the figure rose from the earlier N30,000 rate to the new N70,000. Despite that sharp rise in earnings, it should come as a surprise to ordinary observers that the Nigeria Labour Congress and its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have started agitating for another minimum wage, just two years after the last approval. According to reports last week, labour leaders have demanded a review of the N70,000 minimum wage, because, according to them, the wage structure no longer reflects the economic realities facing Nigerian workers.

Joe Ajaero, NLC President, and his predecessor in office, Ayuba Wabba, were at the forefront of the calls for the review of the minimum wage on Friday as they spoke at the 2026 Nigeria Rights of Workers Summit, held in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, to commemorate 88 years of legally recognised trade unionism in Nigeria.

President of the NLC, Ajaero, among others, recognised the minimum wage as one of the major issues confronting Nigerian workers, as he claimed that the ₦70,000 minimum wage had become inadequate in the face of the increasing cost of goods and services, which he said justifies the call for fresh negotiations at the state and federal levels.

“The current ₦70,000 minimum wage can no longer adequately respond to the realities confronting Nigerian workers, particularly with the rising cost of living,” Ajaero said.

His voice was echoed by the former NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who said that the welfare of workers should not only be tied to the pay packet. Wabba said that a decent work environment must also guarantee workers’ rights, social protection and meaningful engagement between labour, employers and government. He added: “Decent work is not only about wages. It is also about workers’ rights, social protection and meaningful social dialogue between workers, employers and government.”

So, from the euphoria of 2024, workers are practically back to the proverbial square one. And that was although the feat attained two years ago was achieved after months of tense negotiations, strikes, and walkouts. The approved new wage was seen as a victory against inflation that had pushed the cost of food, transport, and rent beyond the reach of millions of Nigerian workers. As we have seen, however, the victory lap didn’t last for months as inflation struck again within weeks, wiping away the perceived gains inherent in the N70,000 minimum wage. Persistent rise in fuel price due to the removal of fuel subsidy and further hikes in electricity tariff helped to erode the citizens’ purchasing power, and the question that keeps resurfacing is this: Is there a limit to the use of minimum wage as a tool for protecting workers in Nigeria?

Though the law provides that the Minimum wage is to be negotiated every five years, it is often overtaken by inflation before its full implementation across the states of the federation.

Following the formation of the NLC in 1978, as an umbrella body for all industrial unions in Nigeria, the body has engaged administrations in what can be regarded as minimum wage battles over the years. In 1981, the NLC forced the Shehu Shagari government to enact ₦125 as the national minimum wage; and aside from the interventions during the military era, it also forced the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to adopt N5,500 as minimum wage in the year 2,000. In 2011, under President Goodluck Jonathan, the wage was moved to ₦18,000 after mass protests, then N30,000 in 2019 under President Muhammadu Buhari and N70,000 in 2024 under Tinubu. Incidentally, what has followed each wage increase has been economic crisis and a reduction in workers’ purchasing power. Slow implementation across the states and then, inflation erases the gains. This has raised questions about NLC/TUC’s strategies of seeking workers’ welfare. Should you keep doing the same thing the same way and expect a different result? That should be the pertinent question for the NLC/TUC. If inflation is the elephant in the room, will it be reasonable for the labour centres to see the demand for higher minimum wage as the only way out of workers’ economic woes? Rather than seeking perpetual increments in minimum wage at every stop, should workers not demand conditions of service that take care of necessities and social comfort?

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown that the Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) for an average adult stands at N1,541 in March 2026 and N1,589 per adult in April. The zonal average also indicates thatvan adult needs N1,899 per day in the South-East, N1,801 in the South West and N1,233 per day in the North East. It appears crystal clear that resting all hopes on the minimum wage would almost always amount to disaster for the workers. For instance, NBS records that the CoHD rose by 1.89 per cent between March and April 2026 alone, an indication that calculating the welfare of workers through the minimum wage would largely amount to a mirage.

Rather than emphasising the necessity of increases in the minimum wage, I believe that the NLC/TUC should emphasise welfare matters added to living wages. For instance, why is it difficult for the federal and state governments to make housing provisions for their workers immediately they are employed? The federal authorities would want to take me on regarding this matter, though. They would claim that the Federal Mortgage Bank is there for workers to explore. But if it is working as it should, the rent burden on the average worker should have reduced. At the state levels, there are no plans at all for workers’ wellbeing, especially on how they would realise one of life’s essentials-roofs upon their heads, in a country where public transportation is at the mercy of shylock private transporters, and where the cost of an average car is not within the reach of a civil servant, should the labour centres not fight for the right of their members to own cars? If the Labour officials think the issue of housing and cars cannot be addressed by state or Federal Governments, I will tell them such thinking is a fallacy. In this same Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo opened up Old and New Bodija Estates, he opened up places in Ikeja and the Western side of Lagos as well and directly allocated lands to civil servants in such estates, such that they could live very close to their workplaces, the Ikeja Industrial Estate, the Secretariat, Agodi Ibadan and even extended the largesse to academics of the University of Ibadan, whose school is equally close to Bodija. These days, I often see some state governments approve car loans in the sum of N500,000 to some workers, and I wonder which car that amount can purchase. One thing the labour should keep at the back of their mind is that no matter the amount a minimum wage is fixed, ; in months, the figures are easily walked over by inflationary trends and uncertain economic indices. The challenge of what can be regarded as the social limits of wage increase versus cost-of-living challenge is real. Even if ₦70,000 is paid in full to a worker, he or she has to contend with housing issues, with a single room in Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt equalling between ₦30,000-₦50,000 on a monthly average. Also, after the removal of fuel subsidy, transportation costs tripled. If a worker spends ₦1,500 daily on transport, that will gulp ₦33,000 in 22 workdays. There are commitments to healthcare every human must make, and with the weak public services, workers are at the receiving end.

The 2024 experience comes to mind here again. The inflation rate hit 34 per cent as soon as the N70,000 minimum wage was signed. Food inflation rose over 40 per cent, and it became obvious that the much-celebrated ₦70,000 wage could only buy less of what the N30,000 wage of 2019 could buy. Inflationary trends change month on month as shown by the statistics from NBS, but the NLC/TUC can’t negotiate the minimum wage monthly. That calls for some more enduring actions that could safeguard the welfare of the workers.

Another disruption the persistent request for an increase in the national minimum wage causes is at the front of the informal and private sector employers. While the Federal Government and several states can easily comply with the dictates of the minimum wage law once enacted, it is not the same for the private sector. It is on record that more than 80 per cent of the working population are engaged in the informal and private sectors, but the noise the minimum wage implementation usually drags makes it look as if all workers are already covered by the law. On the flip side, homeowners and other service providers immediately jerk up rent and other services once the minimum wage is announced. So, often, for the generality of the workers outside the public sector, it is a double combo of trouble. Their workplaces are reluctant to meet the dictates of the new wage, but they are compelled to bear the brunt of its effects like increased rent, school fees, food prices and transportation.

What the labour centres should do is to insist that the National Assembly should write welfare packages into any future minimum wage laws, and such could include provisions of food banks, housing acquisition, as well as vehicle ownership plans aside from ensuring a working public transportation systems that will reduce the pressure of car ownership.

Aside from that, organised labour should seek shorter review periods, like moving from every five years to two years. They should also seek ways to bring informal sector workers into the wage bracket to guarantee social protection. The labour leaders and the government could find ways to link wages to productivity and directly push for industrialization. Higher productivity means that employers can pay more without firing workers. Labour could also push the government to fight inflation directly because it has shown that wage increases without controlling food prices and transport costs are self-defeating. By demanding a social wage as their counterparts in Europe are known for, the Labour centres can push governments to deliver affordable housing, health, and transport. A social wage would ensure that the minimum wage not only takes workers to work, but also takes them home.