President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a provisional federal minimum wage increment to N55,000 with the addition of N25,000 to the monthly salary of the average low-grade worker for the next six months.
The president made a national broadcast on Nigeria’s 63rd Independence anniversary on Sunday.
The minimum wage for the federal worker stood at N30,000 before the latest announcement. It was jacked up from N18,000 in 2018.
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The president stated that “Based on our talks with labour, business and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation. For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional twenty-five thousand naira per month.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have been at loggerheads with the Tinubu administration on the payment of a living wage to workers to alleviate the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy and the consequent increase in fuel prices.
Already, the Labour organisations had declared indefinite strike actions across the country to begin on October 3. The labour leaders are yet to officially react to the new wage increase.
Tinubu said his administration had embarked on bold reforms to place the country on the path of prosperity and growth.
“I am attuned to the hardships that have come. I have a heart that feels and eyes that see. I wish to explain to you why we must endure this trying moment. Those who sought to perpetuate the fuel subsidy and broken foreign exchange policies are people who would build their family mansion in the middle of a swamp. I am different. I am not a man to erect our national home on a foundation of mud. To endure, our home must be constructed on safe and pleasant ground.
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“Reform may be painful, but it is what greatness and the future require. We now carry the costs of reaching a future Nigeria where the abundance and fruits of the nation are fairly shared among all, not hoarded by a select and greedy few. A Nigeria where hunger, poverty and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.
“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.
“My government is doing all that it can to ease the load. I will now outline the path we are taking to relieve the stress on our families and households”.
The president emphasised that his administration had embarked upon public sector reforms to stabilise the economy, direct fiscal and monetary policy to fight inflation, encourage production, ensure the security of lives and property and lend more support to the poor and the vulnerable.
He cited the setting up of infrastructure support fund for states to invest in critical areas, adding that states had already received funds to provide relief packages against the impact of rising food and other prices.
To lower transport costs, he said, “We have opened a new chapter in public transportation through the deployment of cheaper, safer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses across the nation.
According to him, those buses would operate at a fraction of current fuel prices and positively affect transport fares.
“New CNG conversion kits will start coming in very soon as all hands are on deck to fast track the usually lengthy procurement process. We are also setting up training facilities and workshops across the nation to train and provide new opportunities for transport operators and entrepreneurs. This is a groundbreaking moment where, as a nation, we embrace more efficient means to power our economy. In making this change, we also make history”, the president stated further.