N70, 000 minimum wage grossly inadequate — Osun residents

Some residents of Osun say the new minimum wage of N70,000 approved by President Bola Tinubu is grossly inadequate and unsustainable to meet the present economic realities in the country.

Supreme News reports that Tinubu, in a meeting with organised labour on Thursday in Abuja, approved N70,000 as the new national minimum wage.

In an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Osogbo, the residents called on the president to reconsider the wage amount before sending it to the National Assembly for passage into law.

The stakeholders said Nigerians expected a figure higher than N70, 000 in line with economic realities in the country.

The Executive Director of Democracy Vanguards, a civil society organisation, Mr. Emmanuel Olowu, said Tinubu did not consider the present economic indices before deciding on the figure.

Olowu, who said that most Nigerians expected a figure higher than N250,000, expressed concern over the financial implications of the new national minimum wage of N70, 000 on the masses.

“The three-year review of the wage as proposed by the president is a welcome idea, but what we need is a figure that aligns with the present market realities,” he said.

Also speaking, the state coordinator of the Federation of Informal Workers Organisation of Nigeria (FIWON), Mr. Ibrahim Olayinka, said Nigerians should brace up for the implications of the new minimum wage.

Olayinka said the market value of food commodities has escalated, making the less privileged unable to meet their daily needs.

“I want the Senate to reconsider the figure and do the needful instead of making Nigerians pass through less tough moments.

“The figure is not impressive, and I am so saddened about what lies ahead of us as a country,” Olayinka said.

Mr. Ayo Ologun, spokesperson for Transparency Accountability International, said the figure did not fulfil the aspirations of labour unions.

According to him, whether it will scale through or not depends on the labour union’s decision.

“I want to say that it is not in tandem with present economic realities and the living standard,” he said.

However, Ologun described the decision of the House of Representatives to slash their salary by 50 percent over the next six months as a welcome development.

He said it showed that members were listening to the agitation of the people.

Ologun urged the lawmakers to go the extra mile to show empathy by ensuring that unnecessary expenditures were not executed.