Economics
Nigeria Gives In to 66% Minimum-Wage Demand, Stoking Inflation
- Union wins 66 percent minimum-wage boost after strike threat
- Government may have to borrow more abroad: Chapel Hill Denham
Pedestrians pass city office buildings in Lagos.
Photographer: Tom Saater/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Nigerian labor is flexing its muscle before an election, winning a large increase in the minimum wage despite investor concerns about the oil-exporting nation’s deteriorating budget balances.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, one of Africa’s biggest unions, called off its threat to hold a nationwide strike from Tuesday after its 4 million members won a 66 percent increase for a new monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($83), spokesman Benson Upah said by phone from Abuja, the capital. President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to send a bill for approval by lawmakers “for passage within the shortest possible time,” his office said in an emailed statement.