President of Trade Union Congress Festus Osifo says it is designing a clause in the framing of a new minimum wage that will sanction state governments who fail to pay the revised minimum wage when approved.
Osifo said the sanction will require that the Federation Account Allocation Committee directly pay workers in states where governors default on the payment of the new minimum wage when agreed on by labour unions, federal and state governments as well as the organised private sector.
Osifo said the current minimum wage of N30,000 can no longer cater for the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which will expire by April, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Act is to be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.
Earlier in January, the Federal Government inaugurated a 37-man Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage with a mandate to recommend a new National Minimum Wage for the country.
While the TUC demanded N447,000 as the new monthly minimum wage per worker, the NLC requested N794,000 per worker.
Osifo said inflation has affected the cost of living for an average Nigerian worker, noting that state governors can afford to pay every public servant N447,000 because they now get more monthly FAAC revenue allocation by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
According to FAAC, the three tiers of government shared N1.15 trillion last month and not N2trn.
Continuing, Osifo said, “So, what that means is that the portion of money that is accruable to states has grown up astronomically. And majority of that money is attributable to the exchange rate.
Minimum Wage: TUC Urges Government To Pay FAAC Allocations Of Defaulting States To Workers
