The House of Representatives has stated that there is no Nigerian worker that can survive on wage below N100,000 asking the Federal Government to pay the ‘living wages’ to workers in the country.
The resolution was made by the lawmakers on Wednesday following a motion sponsored by the Minority Leader, Kingsley China, and 37 other members. They also resolved to transmit the resolution to the Senate for concurrence.
Committee on Labour and Employment, Finance and National Planning of the House are set to work out modalities for the payment of living wages to Nigerian workers at rates in line with economic realities.
The Federal Government recently set up a tripartite committee made up of persons drawn from the executive, organized Labour, state government and the organized private sector to negotiate the minimum wage.
While moving the motion on behalf of the sponsors, Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Aliyu Sani Madaki, NNPP, Kano, noted that the soaring rate of inflation in the country has made it difficult for average Nigerians to afford basic needs such as food, water, housing, education, healthcare, transportation, and clothing.
He explained that the rising inflation rate in the country has also impacted the cost of living, with the cost of food, accommodation, education, and transportation skyrocketing.
Madaki ssid Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 23 of the Declaration states that “every individual who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration to ensure such a person and his or her family exist in dignity.”
He highlighted that the Sustainable Development Goals have a 2030 achievement deadline, and eight out of the 17 SDGs of the United Nations require the payment of a living wage to be achieved.
The lawmaker stated that the minimum wage in the country was increased by the president recently, but the purchasing power is low owing to the continued rise in the cost of living in the country and the fall of the Naira.
He pointed out that Trade Economics in 2018 reported the living wage for an individual Nigerian and a Nigerian family to be N43,200 per month and N137,600 per month, respectively. This is a pre-subsidy removal report.
Madaki insisted that presently, no labourer can live in Nigeria with a wage of less than one hundred thousand Naira, N 100,000.00, while lamenting that according to the World Bank report, low purchasing power in the country occasioned by a high inflation rate, has led to an increase in poverty across the country.
