The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed workers in states yet to fully implement the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act to take to the streets on May 1, 2026, suspending all official indoor celebrations. President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law on July 29, 2024, increasing the monthly minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000. The NLC, in a statement signed by General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja, accused several state governments of violating the law by failing to pay the new wage fully, delay in payment, and excluding local government staff, primary school teachers, and health workers. The union described the non-compliance as an assault on the dignity of Nigerian workers.
Affected State Councils are instructed to hold no May Day events in government houses, banquet halls, or enclosed venues linked to defaulting state governments. Workers must gather by 7:00 a.m. at labour houses, union secretariats, or public squares and march peacefully to the State Government House, House of Assembly, or Head of Service's office to submit a memorandum. The directive is binding, and non-compliant chairpersons face immediate disciplinary action. "Comrades, the 2024 Minimum Wage Act did not come through supplication. It came through struggle. To celebrate May Day indoors while our rights are trampled upon is to betray that legacy. Let us therefore return to the streets!" the NLC stated.
Workers continue to criticise the N70,000 wage as inadequate amid inflation, with some calling it "too poor" and a driver of corruption. In March 2026, the NLC proposed a new minimum wage of N154,000, including a 120 per cent adjustment tied to inflation.
The NLC's street directive exposes the widening gap between law and reality for Nigerian workers, with Emmanuel Ugboaja now leading a union that must enforce a wage it once fought to secure. That the N70,000 wage—barely surviving inflation—is still unimplemented in many states reveals how hollow legislative wins can be without enforcement. The planned 2026 protests are less about celebration and more about holding ground, not advancing it. For millions of workers, the real cost of living is rising faster than both wages and political will.
