18,000.00 NGN minimum wage, no longer Realistic-NLC

At the send forth ceremony of the immediate past President-General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, the NLC president, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, insisted that N56,000.00 being demanded by congress was not out of place because of present cost of living.
According to him, while the NLC was getting opposition from the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association, NECA, NLC was sure that stakeholders would all support a new wage for workers who had all along been treated as slaves.
He said, “So, we have looked at the totality of the issues, including the challenges we are going through at the moment and we thought that what we have done is reasonable because what we have done is to look at what is the value of N18, 000 when it was signed looking at the inflation, looking at the purchasing power and looking at the ability to pay.” He continued “Many workers cannot send their children to school, many cannot pay their rent, and many cannot even go to work regularly. Side by side with fighting corruption, if you don’t pay me to meet up with my bills we can’t fight corruption.”
“Our opinion is also that workers have been pushed to the wall so, it’s time for the minimum wage to be reviewed both in law and practice because the cycle is due and inflation is biting very hard, high cost of goods and services is affecting workers seriously.
It will be recalled that the United Labour Congress is asking for NGN 96,000.00 in wages. How both unions would reconcile their stands is left to be seen.