By Omoyeni Ojeifo
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has begun preparations for the 2027 review of the national minimum wage, urging the Federal Government to start the process early enough for a new wage to take effect by May or June.
PerSecondNews correspondent reports that TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, told a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja that the current minimum wage law, signed in 2024, provides for a three-year review cycle, with the next review expected around August 2027.
According to the union, they want the review committee constituted around February, arguing that workers should not have to wait until the statutory deadline before discussions begin.
“The current minimum wage law has a three-year cycle, so we are expecting the committee to be constituted around February 2027, to give us enough time for the process,” he said.
Osifo also pointed out that some organised private-sector employers already pay above the statutory minimum wage, stressing the need to move beyond the minimum towards a wage that can provide workers with a decent standard of living.
“The minimum wage is not what everybody is paying. In the organised private sector, you have banks, food and beverage companies, oil and gas companies paying above the minimum wage. What we are talking about is a living wage.”
Osifo also explained the implication of the declining inflation rate, stressing that lower inflation does not mean prices of goods and services have fallen, but that the pace of increase has slowed.
“When inflation comes down from 30 per cent to 15 per cent, it does not mean prices have reduced; it means prices are still increasing, but at a slower rate than before,”he noted.
He maintained that bringing inflation down to single digits would be beneficial to workers and the wider economy.
“The more you beat inflation to single digit, the better it is for us, because what matters to the ordinary Nigerian is what he can buy with the money in his pocket,” he stated.
On the unresolved health-sector issues, Osifo disclosed that TUC would write the Minister of Health by October 8 over the failure to implement provisions contained in the earlier communiqué.
“We are calling on the Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate, to look at this matter within the next few days, because if there is no intervention, we will have no option than to escalate,” he declared.
“None of the provisions of that communiqué has been implemented, and that is why we are writing to the Minister of Health by October 8 to seek his intervention,” Osifo emphasized.
The union, he said, was consulting with the Nigeria Labour Congress and would give the minister an opportunity to intervene before deciding on further action.