Nigerians want Minimum Wage above N100,000

When Jamilu Haruna accepted a job offer from the Kano State Government in 2021, he was already concerned about his salary which was a little above N50,000.

“It was too small even then,” Mr Haruna, 36, said. “Now, the prices of everything have gone up and it’s almost impossible to earn a living with that pay slip.”

His sentiment is widely shared among Nigerian workers who are pressing the government to increase the national minimum wage amid a cost of living crisis.

But it is not only civil servants who believe that Nigeria’s current minimum wage of N30,000 is too low as a PREMIUM TIMES poll shows that the majority of Nigerians want the new minimum wage to be over 200 per cent higher than the current figure.

More than 60 per cent of the respondents who took part in the opinion poll by PREMIUM TIMES believe that the minimum wage should be between N100,000 and N200,000 considering the economic situation in the country.

Negotiations are ongoing between Nigerian labour unions and the government on what should be the new minimum wage. The unions last week went on a nationwide strike, shutting down the country’s power grid and airports to demand “a living wage” from the government.

The labour unions suspended the indefinite strike on Tuesday after the government invited them for negotiations. The talks so far have not yielded results. “They have not presented any different thing yet,” the Nigeria Labour Congress said on Thursday.

Labour leaders have promised to force another shutdown from next week if the government does not agree to a minimum wage.

Earlier in the week, the federal government increased the proposed national minimum wage from N60,000 to N62,000, while organised labour has lowered its demand from N494,000 to N250,000. The two parties have not agreed on a figure yet but the Chairman of the tripartite committee, Bukar Aji, said the two recommendations would be sent to the president for action.

Another major obstacle in the wage negotiations is the stance of state governors. Any new minimum wage agreed to would be binding on all state governments. But the governors say they cannot even pay the earlier N60,000 proposed by the government’s negotiating team, meaning workers like Mr Haruna who work for a state government may not benefit from the appropriate minimum wage adjustment when it is finally approved.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) said though a new minimum wage is due, the proposed N60,000 is not sustainable. But the labour unions defend their demands by pointing to the expensive lifestyle of Nigeria’s public officials.

Since taking office, the Tinubu administration has embarked on reforms that have fuelled inflation, sending it to an almost 30-year high, and worsened a cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria.

The president has been under pressure from unions to offer relief to households and small businesses after scrapping subsidies on petrol. The Nigerian leader and his aides have repeatedly assured citizens that things will get better when the policies take shape.

The Poll

The poll was run on PREMIUM TIMES’ X handle (formerly Twitter).

The voters were asked a single question: “What should be a reasonable “living wage” considering the economic situation?”

The options given are as follows:

_ Less than N100k

_ N100k-200k

_N200k-N300k

_N300k-N500k

Results

At least 3,049 people participated in the poll with 61 per cent of people voting that the new minimum wage should be between N100k and N200k monthly.

About 14.8 per cent voted to have the minimum wage between N200,000 and N300,000; 12.8 per cent said between N300,000 and N500,000 while 10.9 per cent settled for less than N100,000.

In responding to the opinion poll on X, a user with the name Oluwaseun Olowoyo: “What majority picks here are fair because our government is not ready to pay, but in realistic Nigerian workers deserve more than 200k based on what politicians take home daily.”

“100k – 200k is more feasible, more realistic and would not be a burden to the country, it is enough for an ordinary civil servant,” said a Facebook user, Bukar Maisandari.