Federal Government Speaks On Paying Nigerian Workers N100,000 Minimum Wage

President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has said that a new minimum wage of N100,000 is not viable.

Onanuga stated this during an interview on Arise TV on Monday Night.

He asserted that it would be difficult for the Nigerian government to peg the minimum wage at N100,000 or more.

He noted that the country’s present financial strength indicated that both the federal and state governments would be unable to pay their employees’ salaries if N100,000 or more was eventually approved as the new minimum wage in the country.

Onanuga pointed out that most state governors are currently struggling to pay the present minimum wage.

He said, “Let me tell you the last time it was done under President Buhari when the wage was increased to N30,000 per month. Till today, 26 state governments could not pay it, out of 36, Only 10 are paying.

“The rest have not paid the whole rate or maybe they’ve just improved a bit. But mostly, according to the people who have monitored it, 26 state governments are unable to comply. Whatever the government wants to do now, even if we increase wages to 100,000 naira. Will the Federal Government be able to pay?

“When you look at the financial position of the governments. Look at the last budget. Look at what the government inherited. Low revenue. Very high domestic and foreign debt. Repayment of a debt consuming, according to Buhari Budget, 97% of our revenue.

“This country was already broke. Having removed the subsidy, the government is hoping that the pressure on our finances will reduce and it is already reducing. If you look at the budget, the deficit is going to be about N6trillion compared to N14trillion that the Buhari government had planned for 2023.”