BREAKING: NLC Announces Tinubu’s Minimum Wage Amount (SEE FIGURE)

Joe Ajaero, the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, has said that organised labour accepted a ₦70,000 minimum wage instead of a ₦250,000 offer from President Bola Tinubu tied to allowing a higher pump price of petrol.

According to a video posted on the official YouTube channel of Mic On Podcast on Saturday, October 3, 2026, while speaking on workers hardship and the 2023 agreement with the government, Ajaero recounted a meeting with President Tinubu.

Ajaero said President Tinubu told labour leaders they were holding him down, and that a payment of ₦250,000 would follow if the union allowed the proposed price increase, citing developments in nearby countries to support his case.

During the interview, he stated, “I could remember in a meeting our executive had with Mr. President, he said, ‘Ah, you are the person that is holding me down; if you allow me to increase this price,’ then he was talking about ₦1,500 or so, ‘I will pay you guys ₦250,000,’ and he gave an analysis of what was happening in nearby countries.”

Continuing, “we told him, ‘Look, sir, we prefer to take even ₦70,000 than for you to increase the pump price around ₦1,500, because it is not only the labour force that will suffer from this effect.’”

The programme host noted that the ₦70,000 minimum wage, signed into law by President Tinubu in July 2024 at a 133 percent increase from ₦30,000, is due for its next statutory review in 2027 under a three-year cycle.

In his concluding remarks, Ajaero said that accepting ₦250,000 for a higher pump price would have amounted to selfishness on the part of labour, because Nigeria is bigger than working people alone, so the union settled for ₦70,000.

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