BREAKING: Minimum Wage: NECA Shares Fears Over N70,000 Pay, “Not a Two Plus Two Equals Four Argument”

Ikeja, Lagos state – The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed concerns over the rising costs of living in the country.

NECA asserted that “the minimum wage of N70,000 has actually been eroded by the current realities.”

In an interview with Vanguard newspaper published on Thursday, January 2, 2025, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, NECA’s director-general (DG), bemoaned the worsening hardship in West Africa’s largest economy.

He said:

“So the minimum wage of N70,000 has actually been eroded by the current realities. But it is not a two plus two equals four argument. It is an engagement that stakeholders must not shy away from.

“We must continue to engage and we must continue to be innovative within the context of our engagement so that businesses will prosper, the workers will prosper and the nation eventually will prosper.”

Recall in 2024, the federal and state governments, organised labour, and the private sector negotiated a new minimum wage.

Initially, organised labour proposed N615,500 and N494,000 as the new national minimum wage, citing the prevailing economic hardship and inflation. After a back-and-forth, stakeholders eventually settled for N70,000 — from N30,000. The senate subsequently passed the N70,000 minimum wage bill into law as workers in several states await implementation.

Labour pushes for minimum wage increase

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Festus Osifo, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said that organised labour is pushing for an annual increase in the national minimum wage paid to workers in Nigeria.

Osifo explained that it is important that the minimum wage paid to workers reflects a rise in inflation every year. The TUC boss stated that members of the organisation and their colleagues in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have begun talks on the issue.