Nigeria offers N35,000 wage increase, as Labour reconsiders decision on strike
Nigeria on Sunday announced a temporary wage increase for federal government workers, a three-month income subsidy for 15 million poor households and a pause in a value-added tax on diesel as the government sought to prevent an indefinite strike in two days.
After meeting with the government on Sunday, unions will on Monday take the proposals to their affiliates, who will decide whether to press on with the strike or suspend it, Joe Ajaero, president of the largest labour federation, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), told reporters.
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, Sunday mornng said government workers would receive an additional 25,000 naira ($32) a month for the next six months, a smaller raise than the 200,000 naira that unions demanded. Tinubu said this was necessary to avoid pushing up double-digit inflation.
That would mean the lowest paid government worker in Nigeria will now earn 55,000 naira a month, up from 30,000 naira.
The only gap is that President Tinubu did not consider the situation of state government workers and those in the private sector.
Poor households would also receive 25,000 naira a month for three months and a value-added tax on diesel will be paused for the same period, the president said.
The government also announced that mass transit buses would begin running on compressed natural gas.
At his inauguration in May, the president scrapped a decades-old fuel subsidy and ended foreign exchange restrictions, which has led to soaring cost of living, angering unions.
In a national broadcast earlier on Sunday marking 63 years of independence, Tinubu defended the reforms as necessary to put Africa’s biggest economy on the path to recovery.
“I am attuned to the hardships that have come. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future,” said Tinubu.
Later in the evening on Sunday, in a last-minute effort to stall the indefinite strike billed to commence on Tuesday, the federal government again sought concessions with labour unions by presenting new offers for consideration.
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, announced the update on the decision earlier made by the President Tinubu during his Independence Day broadcast to the nation on Sunday.
According to the presidency, after further consultation, President Tinubu increased the intervention funds from N25,000 to N35,000 for the next six months for all federal workers.
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