LAGOS State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved N85,000 minimum wage for the state workers.
The new wage is N15,000 higher than the N70,000 approved by the Nigerian government.
Sanwo-Olu stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, October 16.
According to the governor, the state is not paying N85,000 to outshine others but because it can pay.
“I am glad to let you know that the minimum wage for Lagos, which we conversed and discussed with our union, is N85,000 today.
“It is not a competition, so I am not going to say we are paying more than some other people; it is a function of affordability and it is a function of capacity. But we know too well that when people live in Lagos, Lagos has a premium in terms of even the cost of living; we are fully aware,” Sanwo-Olu stated.
The governor said the state had raised worker salaries earlier in the year, and he expressed his desire to pay the N100,000 minimum wage in January 2025.
“We actually increased salaries earlier in the year and deserving so for our staff, and we will continue to do that,” he added.
The governor said he aimed to ensure the state residents earn a living wage that reflects the government’s commitment to their well-being.
The ICIR reported that President Bola Tinubu signed the new N70,000 minimum wage bill into law in July, ending months of deliberations between government representatives, labour unions, and the private sector.
The President assented to the bill on Monday, July 29, at the State House in Abuja, barely a week after the National Assembly passed it.
Recall that the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday, July 23, passed the minimum wage amendment bill after the bill speedily scaled through the first, second, and third readings.
The Senate unanimously voted for the consideration and approval of the bill minutes after it was transmitted to it by President Bola Tinubu.
The bill sought to increase the national minimum wage and reduced the period for periodic review from five years to three years.
The upward review by the federal government came after a series of negotiations between the government’s representatives and organised labour.
Governors across the country’s 36 states had opposed the N60,000 minimum wage initially proposed by the Federal Government.
The governors rejected the proposal in a statement by the director of media and public affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Halimah Salihu Ahmed, on Friday, June 7.
Nigerian workers had embarked on a strike on Monday, June 3, and relaxed it the following day to compel the government to agree on an acceptable minimum wage.
The suspension of the industrial action was at the heels of the resolution reached between the Federal Government representatives and the labour after a six-hour meeting in the evening of Monday, June 3, in Abuja.
A reporter with the ICIR
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