By Ken Chiwendu
At the Public Hearing on a New National Minimum wage for workers in the country organised by theTripartite Committee on Minimum Wage,the Nigeria Labour Congress in the North Eastern States and the South West have presented different proposals to the committee.
In the North East,Taraba and Gombe states proposed the sum of N60,000 as the new National Minimum wage, while Bauchi and Adamawa want a 50% increment on the current N30,000 minimum wage.
For workers in Borno and Yobe states,any final proposal of the presidential tripartite committee on the National Minimum wage was fine with them.
On its part,the Nigeria Labour Congress in the South West has demanded N794,000 as the new minimum wage
The NLC in the region presented its proposal to the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday through Funmi Sessi, the Lagos State Chairman of the union.
Meanwhile, the President of the NLC,Joe Ajaero who doubles as the Chairman of the North East public hearing has described the current minimum wage as a ” starvation wage”saying that it was necessary to have a proper market survey to reach a consensus on a new national minimum wage
Ajaero, who spoke on Thursday said that any attempt to arrive at a new minimum wage without ” hearing from the market” would be an exercise in futility.
