Central Bank of Nigeria backs Labour on minimum wage

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has thrown its weight behind organised labour’s quest to increase the minimum wage, saying that it would boost the economy.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, disclosed the apex bank’s position while briefing the press on the outcome of yesterday’s Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting, in Abuja.

Emefiele, who warned Deposit Money Banks against lending to politicians or abetting money laundering as campaigns for the 2019 general elections, expressed optimism that the proposed increase in the nation’s minimum wage would boost the economy through increased aggregate demand.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity said yesterday that the National Assembly would give the minimum wage bill accelerated hearing and passage whenever it was presented by the executive arm of government.

The federal and state governments are still ironing out the issue of N30,000 minimum wage which the Tripartite Committee recommended to government, but which state governors disagreed with, saying they could not pay unless workers were sacked or their allocations increased.

– Vanguard