‘Wage Increase Not Solution To Economic Crisis, Purchasing Power Is More Important’ – Ex-Presidential Candidate, Adebayo

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Adewole Adebayo, has asserted that increasing wages may not significantly enhance the economic conditions of workers and Nigerians in general.

Adebayo made this statement during a press conference in Abuja, addressing the escalating demands from the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, for increased worker wages.

Naija News reports that the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has disclosed that the labour union is yet to adopt a specific figure to present to the tripartite committee as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

According to Ajaero, the figures of N500,000 and N700,000 are merely suggestions from the state labour unions submitted during zonal hearings on the minimum wage and not the official position of the NLC.

However, the SDP presidential candidate explained that having more money doesn’t always mean you have a better life right now.

He said it’s more important to think about how much you can buy with the naira you have.

Adebayo said, “It is not the volume of money in one’s hands that matters but what the money can buy.

“There are things we need to understand in basic economics. Having more money does not guarantee you anything.

*Everybody who’s living today has more money than Julius Caesar. Because at that time, the entire British economy was not up to one billion pounds for the first 1000 years of her existence. Purchasing power is what is important.”