The fight for the minimum wage of ₦70,000 was not easy, according to the TUC

Tommy Etim Okon, Deputy National President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), acknowledged that the fight for organized labor was difficult prior to the federal government’s approval of the ₦70,000 minimum wage.

According to Etim Okon, labor leaders remained between ₦615,000 and ₦250,000 despite the business sector and federal government insisting on the Tripartite Committee on New Minimum Wage’s proposed ₦62,000 figure.

The National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) stated this on Thursday during a brief interview with NTA News at 9 p.m., which was monitored by our correspondent.

He stated that organized labour won a three-year review of the minimum wage from President Bola Tinubu, even though they did not expect it.

Oko stated, “We, the organized labour, fought a good fight.” We remained at ₦615,000, despite the government and business sector agreeing to a minimum salary of ₦62,000. But we felt it wasn’t enough, so we stood our ground for ₦250,000.
He stated that President Tinubu demonstrated prudence by meeting with Nigerian workers’ representatives twice to agree on a suitable living wage. “But, as you can see, Mr. President’s meeting with organized labor twice demonstrates how determined we were in our struggles.

“I just think that Nigerian workers should know that it wasn’t an easy fight; taking cognizance of the situation and those indices we put in place to ensure that workers earn a living wage,” Okon went on.

The TUC deputy national president praised the president for recognizing the importance of a three-year minimum wage review timeline. The proposal was not previously considered, as the five-year frequency was already in place when the ₦30,000 minimum wage was introduced in 2019.

According to him, the new minimum salary of ₦70,000 represents a 134% increase over the previous minimum wage. He stressed that the new minimum wage includes a three-year review period.”If you look at that 70,000 that has come to place now, you see that 134 percent increase and three year review frequency,” he told me.