FIWON backs organised labour demand for higher national minimum wage

The Federation of Information Workers Organisation of Nigeria (FIWON) has appealed to the Federal Government to consider a higher national minimum wage for civil servants in the country to reduce the sufferings of workers.

Coordinator of FIWON in Osun, Mr Ibrahim Olayinka, who made the appeal in an interview on Wednesday in Osogbo, said that what organised labour was demanding was realistic, considering the present economic realities.

He called on President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the N62,000 proposed in the report of the national minimum wage tripartite committee and offer a living and affordable wage to Nigerian workers.

Olayinka urged the organised private sector to adjust their cost of production and profitability to help address the present impasse.

“This will be a good step in the right direction; that is the line of argument NECA and other stakeholders ought to have been pushing for instead of calling for a lesser minimum wage for hardworking civil servants.

“If only the Federal Government intends to pay civil servants a higher national minimum wage, such money is channelled and recycled back to the economy in the long run,” he said.

He stated that some private sectors are already paying above hundred thousand naira to their workers as minimum monthly salaries, while some cannot afford it.

Olayinka appealed to the president to give workers an affordable and higher minimum wage that aligned with the present economic realities to encourage productivity.