…Threatens To Resist Tax On Minimum Wage
By Our Reporter, With Agency Reports
THE NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to demand for an urgent adoption of a living wage for Nigerian workers, while threatening to reject any proposal to impose tax on the national minimum wage.
Comrade Joe Ajaero, NLC President, disclosed this to newsmen on the side-line of the ongoing 114th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) on Tuesday in Geneva Switzerland.
The ILC, which commenced on Monday, June 1, 2026, is billed to close on Friday, June 12.
Comrade Ajaero said organised labour would resist any attempt to tax minimum wage earners, describing such policy direction as “unjust and insensitive” in the context of prevailing economic hardship across the country.
“We reject outright any attempt to tax the minimum wage or place levies on poor Nigerian workers,” Comrade Ajaero said, although he did not say if any government official or the Nigerian tax authority has made any policy inference in that regard.
At the moment, the national minimum wage in Nigeria is exempt from personal income tax. If a worker’s total income is at or below the national minimum wage, which is officially ₦70,000 monthly or ₦840,000 annually, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax is 0%.
Employers are therefore legally not required to deduct PAYE tax from the current minimum wage.
However, for workers who earn above the minimum wage, only the portion of their income that exceeds the tax-exempt threshold is taxed using a graduated progressive system.
Ajaero said the current wage structure no longer reflects Nigeria’s economic realities, adding that inflation – rising food prices and transport costs – have worsened the living conditions of workers nationwide.
He said organised labour would soon commence fresh negotiations for a new minimum wage, stressing that the process would begin by July 2026 to avoid past delays and administrative bottlenecks.
“As soon as we leave here, we shall write again to government, demanding commencement of the process for renegotiating the National Minimum Wage,” he said.
He said that labour’s demand goes beyond wage adjustment, stressing that Nigerian workers deserve a genuine living wage capable of meeting basic needs under current economic pressures.
“We demand nothing less than a genuine living wage that reflects today’s high-speed economic realities facing Nigerian workers,” Ajaero said.
The NLC president called on federal, state and local governments to introduce immediate relief measures for workers pending conclusion of ongoing wage negotiations.
He said that failure to provide relief would worsen economic hardship, especially among low-income earners already struggling with high cost of living.
Ajaero said that the minimum wage negotiation process would remain a tripartite arrangement involving government, organised labour and private sector stakeholders for fair outcomes.
He said some states had already begun paying above the current minimum wage, proving that higher wage structures were economically feasible within Nigeria’s federating units.
“Some states are paying N85,000, some are paying N100,000. It shows that N70,000 is no longer realistic or relevant,” he said.
Ajaero urged governors to demonstrate leadership by improving workers’ welfare ahead of formal negotiations at the national level.
He reaffirmed that organised labour would continue to defend workers’ rights and resist policies that deepen poverty or undermine gains of collective bargaining.
The NLC president expressed optimism that the upcoming negotiation process would produce a fair, realistic and sustainable wage structure for Nigerian workers. (NAN)
