NLC Moves To Enforce Minimum Wage Compliance In Private Sector

• The federal government signed the reviewed minimum wage of N70,000 into law in 2024
• While compliance is gradually spreading across the public sector, not much progress has been made in the unorganised private sector
• The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is set to crack down on private-sector employers that still pay their workers less than N70,000

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon, a journalist with Legit.ng, has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

The Nigeria Labour Congress has disclosed that it would be extending its enforcement of the new minimum wage to the private sector.

Assistant Secretary-General of the NLC, Onyeka Christopher, said even though the new minimum wage of N70,000 had been agreed and signed into law, the union was aware of several violations going on in the country, especially in the unorganised private sector.

Christopher lamented that some workers still earn as low as N15,000 to N30,000 a month, less than half of the agreed minimum wage.

Speaking in an interview, he explained that the public sector had seen some moderate progress in the implementation, and the NLC would be moving to enforce it in the private sector.

He said:

“We have people still earning N15,000 or N20,000 monthly in Nigeria. These are the workers we are most concerned about. The minimum wage law offers them the most protection.”

FG signs N70,000 minimum wage into law

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) finally got President Bola Tinubu to sign a new minimum wage into law in July 2024.

The law not only reviewed the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000, but also reduced the review cycle from five to three years, making 2027 the next review date for the minimum wage.

Since then, implementation has been slow but steady, and almost all the states have implemented the N70,000 agreed minimum wage.

Recently, the NLC has also raised concerns about the adequacy of the N70,000 minimum wage in the face of rising inflation, and high energy costs, among others.

There are also arguments from some experts calling for an annual review cycle instead of three years.

No worker should earn below N70,000 – NLC

The new minimum wage law makes it illegal for Nigerian workers to earn below the minimum wage and prescribes sanctions for non-compliant employers.

According to the NLC, the focus is about to shift to the informal sector, where the workers lack formal contracts and job security.

A Nigerian economist, Illias Aliyu, has recommended a naming and shaming method where the union would name non-compliant employers publicly.

He also urged the union to get the government to tackle the root causes of inflation, to avoid a cycle of poverty where the reviewed wages would always be overtaken by inflation.

States that pay higher than minimum wage

In related news, Legit.ng reported that several state governments have implemented minimum wages higher than the federal government's N70,000 package.

Lagos state, Rivers state and a few others opted for N85,000 as the new minimum wage.

Ogun state approved N77,000, Ondo state approved N73,000, and Kogi state announced N72,500 as its minimum wage.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng