Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday revealed that President Bola Tinubu offered to increase the new minimum wage to ₦250,000, but it was rejected by labour.
According to Ajaero, Tinubu said he was ready to meet the ₦250,000 minimum wage demand if the government would be allowed to increase the price of petrol.
However, the NLC President said the organized labour, after consulting on the matter, rejected the proposal in order to save Nigerians from further hardship that may follow such a decision.
According to him, accepting the ₦70,000 offer was in the best interest of Nigerians.
“Accepting ₦70,000 was the best way to save Nigerians from further hardship,” Ajaero said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
“At last week’s meeting, the President brought a proposal that ‘I will give you guys ₦250,000’ if you allow me to equally increase the pump price of petroleum products’ and we said, ‘No, we need to go and consult’.
“Today (Thursday), we went there to tell him, ‘No’. The labour movement can make sacrifices without allowing Nigerians to suffer further on the increase in the pump price of petroleum products.”
The pump price of petrol jumped from ₦184 in May 2023 when Tinubu declared that “subsidy is gone” to about ₦700 at the moment, depending on the part of the country.
On Thursday, President Tinubu and the Organised Labour, agreed to ₦70,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.