The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, recently granted an interview with journalist where he stated that raising the minimum wage for civil servants would not contribute to inflation.

Osifo justified the increase by pointing out that the allocation of revenue to states from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) had tripled since May 2023. This means that state governments now have more financial resources to invest in infrastructure projects like building roads and schools, or buying other items.

According to Osifo, labour is the most critical aspect of production, and it is essential to pay workers what is due to them. He noted that giving workers their fair wages would not necessarily worsen inflation. The money will be spent either way; if it is not given to workers, it will be spent on other projects.

This situation arises amidst the economic hardship resulting from the removal of subsidy on petrol and unification of the exchange rate windows. The federal government has approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent in salary for civil servants on the six consolidated salary structures.

Earlier this year, the government received a demand from the organised labour for a new minimum wage of N615,000 for workers after setting up a 37-member tripartite committee on the minimum wage in January. On Workers’ Day, the labour union called on the government to announce the new minimum wage