See enh? Minimum wage of N18,000 is unrealistic. Some states can’t even pay it. We can’t afford N56,000 if everything else remains constant: cost of governance, 1100 MDAs, NASS salaries & allowances, security votes, etc. We can afford it if we can take tough decisions. Can we?

The private sector cannot afford a minimum wage of N56,000, with multiple taxation, no light (the biggest expense for most companies is on diesel), poor transportation infrastructure, etc. Both the public & private sectors can’t afford it. Let’s stop lying to our people, please.

Our Gross National Income is insufficient to support 200m people with a population growth rate of 3%. Hard to believe, but, on a per capita basis, we are a poor country! Even if there was ZERO CORRUPTION in Nigeria, we won’t still have enough money to have a decent life. Get it?

To be able to pay decent wages, we need a tripartite approach:
1. Drastically cut cost of governance
2. Drastically cut waste
3. Drastically increase productivity.

Anybody that tells you our current economy & governance systems can support a minimum wage of N56k is lying. End!

Oh...one more thing: the govt was playing politics when it started all the talk of a minimum wage review, knowing it couldn’t afford it. Labour should be more sophisticated and use the demand for an increase in minimum wage as a lever to demand for restructuring. Final End!