The Morgan Commission, chaired by Justice Adeyinka Morgan, was appointed by the Tafawa Balewa government in September 1963 in response to a Joint Action Committee (JAC) ultimatum from the four central labour federations demanding a national minimum wage and the abolition of the colonial 'daily-paid' category. Its terms of reference covered wages, salaries and conditions of service for junior employees of federal and regional governments, statutory corporations, and the private sector — the first attempt in Nigerian history at a unified wage floor.
The Commission reported in April 1964 and recommended a minimum wage of £12/month in Lagos graded down to £7/10s in rural areas, plus the abolition of daily-paid status. Balewa's government delayed publication and then issued the Morgan Report White Paper (Sessional Paper No. 3 of 1964) accepting only watered-down rates — £10/month in Lagos, £5/10s upcountry. The JAC, led by Michael Imoudu, H.P. Adebola, Nduka Eze and S.U. Bassey, declared a general strike on 1 June 1964.
The 1964 General Strike ran for thirteen days, paralysed the ports, the railway and the federal civil service, and is the largest industrial action in Nigerian history measured by participation. The federal government capitulated on 13 June 1964, implementing the full Morgan recommendations and a Wages and Salaries Decree binding on the private sector. The settlement established three principles that have governed every subsequent Nigerian minimum-wage cycle: that the floor is set by federal legislation, that public and private sectors are bound by the same statutory rate, and that organised labour will withdraw labour nationally to enforce it. The Adebo Commission, Udoji Award and the 1981, 2000, 2011, 2019 and 2024 minimum-wage Acts all sit downstream of Morgan.