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The Lagos State Nigeria Labour Congress has welcomed the announcement of N85,000 minimum wage for workers by the state government.
The state NLC Chairman, Agnes Funmi, told The PUNCH that the union welcomed the idea.
“The reason why we agree to the N85,000 for now is that we also want the governor to provide infrastructure like he’s doing in the rail services. The N85,000 is the highest for now,” Agnes said.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday evening during an interview on Channels TV, “One-On-One with Babajide Sanwo-Olu,” said his government planned to pay N85,000 to workers.
“You mentioned minimum wage and what I need to throw in for my people. I’m glad to let you know that the minimum wage for Lagos, which we’ve discussed with our union, is N85,000 today.
“It’s not a competition, so I’m not going to say that we’re paying more than some other people, it’s a function of affordability and a function of capacity,” the governor said while answering questions from the TV anchor, Seun Okinbaloye.
Sanwo-Olu said he would be glad to come on air in January 2025 to announce that his government would be paying N100,000 minimum wage.
“We actually increased our salary earlier in the year and it’s deserving for our staff, and we’ll continue to do that.
“Seun, I will want to come back to you in January and say that I’ve been able to increase the minimum wage of Lagos to N100,000.
“(This is) not because I want to make anybody look bad, it’s really because I want my people to have a living wage,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor stressed that he wanted people to know “that their government is working for them.”
He noted that his government would ensure that it tightened areas where serious expenses were not needed, so that “we’ll be able to give them (the workers) commensurate things that will take them home and not drop them at the bus stop.”
Sanwo-Olu’s commitment came amid negotiations between state governments and organised labour on the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.
The PUNCH reports that representatives of the Oyo State government and the Organised Labour will, today, begin negotiations on consequential adjustment for a new minimum wage in the state.
Governor Seyi Makinde had recently declared that his administration would commence the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage once the issue of consequential salary adjustment had been addressed.
The PUNCH reported on Tuesday that the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, approved the sum of N77,000 as minimum wage in the state.
The decision was reached at a meeting attended by the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, the leadership of the Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and the Joint Negotiating Council on the new minimum wage.
According to a release from the office of the SSG, the governor directed that the new minimum wage should take effect in October.
