The Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress have disagreed over when negotiations for a new national minimum wage should begin, with organised labour challenging the government’s interpretation of the law and demanding that preparations commence immediately.
The disagreement followed an exchange of letters between the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Muhammad Dingyadi, and NLC President, Joe Ajaero, over the timetable for reviewing the N70,000 minimum wage signed into law in July 2024.
In a letter dated 13 October, 2026, Ajaero rejected the government’s position that a fresh review would be premature, arguing that the statutory timetable under the original National Minimum Wage Act, 2019, remained relevant despite the 2024 amendment.
He said the government should begin the process by calling for nominations and inaugurating the National Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee, which brings together the government, organised labour and employers.
“The time is now. The appropriate time is now,” Ajaero wrote in the letter shared on Thursday, arguing that delaying the process would worsen the hardship facing Nigerian workers.
His response came a day after Dingyadi, in a letter dated October 12, acknowledged receipt of a communique issued after a joint meeting of the NLC’s Central Working Committee and National Executive Council.
The minister said the current minimum wage would become due for review on 1 June, 2027, and argued that commencing another review barely two years after the implementation of the N70,000 wage would be premature and disruptive to industrial relations.
The latest exchange comes amid growing pressure from the labour movement over the rising cost of living and the erosion of workers’ purchasing power.
In an Independence Day statement on 1 October, the country’s biggest labour union demanded an immediate reduction in petrol prices, a nationwide wage award and the commencement of negotiations for a new national minimum wage. The statement, signed by Ajaero and titled “Our Hope Depends on the Choices We Make and the Actions We Take”, linked rising transportation, food, rent and education costs to the declining value of workers’ earnings.
Workers also called for the implementation of tax relief measures agreed upon with the government in October 2023, arguing that the union should not continue to bear the burden of rising living costs without additional support.
The NLC demanded that petrol prices be reduced to the levels prevailing when the current minimum wage was signed into law in 2024, negotiations for a new wage begin before the end of October, and outstanding agreements with health and public sector workers be implemented.
It warned that failure to meet the demands within the stipulated period would compel it to take further action as directed by its relevant organs.
Against this backdrop, the minister’s October 12 letter rejected the call for an immediate review, prompting Ajaero’s response the following day.
The NLC president argued that the 2019 law, signed on 18 April of that year, had envisaged a review by April 2024. He said the 2024 amendment did not erase that original timetable, adding that a new wage should take effect by 17 April, 2027, under the timeline advanced by the union.
He said negotiations should begin at least six months before the relevant deadline to allow time for preparatory steps and avoid the accumulation of arrears. On that basis, the NLC said the process should commence by 17 October, 2026.
The union maintained that it was not asking the government to implement a new wage immediately but to begin the administrative and negotiation process required to reach an agreement.
Dingyadi, however, said the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019, as amended by the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2024, provided for a review every three years.
(Source: Punch with modified headline)
