FG can increase workers’ salaries without raising minimum wage — TUC
—Says govt can pay between N200,000, N400,000 By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA — THE Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) on Wednesday, urged the Federal Government to improve workers’ pay immediately, rather than waiting…
Nigeria's national minimum wage is reviewed periodically through negotiations between government, organised labour and the private sector, a process that typically takes years to conclude and often follows prolonged disputes, strikes and threats of industrial action. The current minimum wage was only recently renegotiated after months of standoff, and workers have continued to push for better pay amid high inflation and the removal of fuel subsidy, which has sharply eroded real incomes across the public and private sectors.
The TUC's position reframes the pay debate by separating the statutory minimum wage floor from the broader question of what government can actually afford to pay its workforce. According to the coverage, the union argues the Federal Government has room to raise salaries well above the current minimum wage without triggering a fresh, lengthy renegotiation process, with Vanguard reporting a suggested range of between N200,000 and N400,000. The reports do not detail how such an increase would be funded, its timeline, or whether the government and other labour centres like the NLC have responded to the proposal.