Nigerian Workers To Earn N18,000 Minimum Wage

R-L: Prof Dagogo Fubara, Prof Nimi Briggs and Prof Barineme Fakae during the launching of Hon Timothy Naakuu Paul Birabi Educational Foundation, at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The controversy surrounding the minimum wage has finally been laid to rest following approval of N18,000 as the least workers’ pay by the Council of States yesterday in Abuja.

Already, the bill has been sent to the National Assembly for final endorsement and it was hoped that the new pay may likely be implemented by the end of this month.

It would be recalled that a committee set up by the Federal Government to negotiate the new wage with labour had failed to reach any agreement until the President intervened.

President Goodluck Jonathan who spoke to newsmen on the matter during his visit to Lagos had pleaded with labour to be patient as the matter would be handled with dispatch.

He submitted that the Council of States needed to debate on the matter before it would be forwarded to the National Assembly to give the new wage a force of law.

Experts, however, were sharply divided over the matter as they expressed the view that the President has the powers to approve the pay, giving rise to heated debate over the matter.

Miffed by the inability of some of the governors to approve the minimum wage of N18,000, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had embarked on a three-day warning strike to press home their agitation.