Governor Soludo Warns President Tinubu Against Unsustainable Minimum Wage

• Anambra state governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has sent a serious warning to President Tinubu about adopting an unrealistic amount as minimum wage
• The governor stated that any misstep from the president will later come back on his head
• He argued that the proposed N250,000 by the organised labour is not feasible in Nigeria's present-day economy

The governor of Anambra state, Chukwuma Soludo, has expressed his empathy for President Tinubu, who is faced with a difficult situation of deciding what minimum wage the Nigeria's economy can afford.

He warns the president against approving an unsustainable wage that would worsen the country's situation, saying that Tinubu will later bear the brunt.

Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a professor was speaking at The Platform Nigeria, a program organised by the Lagos-based Covenant Nation church in commemoration of the 25th year of embracing democracy.

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Soludo's Anambra remains one of the few states that have yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage adopted during former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

Soludo explains further that a considerable percentage of the Nigerian workforce is employed by the private sector, which he believes cannot cope with the proposal of the NLC.

He clarified that he is not disputing that the worker deserves a pay rise, nor is he contending if their work is worthy of the amount they are demanding. But his concern, he noted, is the aftermath of a potential adoption of wages the nation cannot keep up with.

The Anambra governor said:

“The minimum wage thing, everybody is right. The worker is right to say, ‘What am I getting?’ Nobody is asking what does a worker do? We are not asking that question yet. All we are saying is: ‘How much does he need?’ He (the worker) is right, and for me, even if we pay N1 million, it’s not enough.

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“But on the other hand, you have to come back to reality; talking about these MSMEs, the schools, churches, so on and so forth. You will have to pay your own driver. We are all in it. Whatever they agree, we will muddle through but may be after one year, we will need to meet to discuss the consequences.”

Many analysts have warned that accepting organised labour's demands would lead to drastic and massive layoffs in both the public and private sectors to adjust to the financial implications of the proposed wage.

Public commentators, like the former presidential aide Reno Omokri, advised that Tinubu stay at N75,000 to strike a balance between the workers' demand and the government's coffers.

New minimum wage: NLC president hails Obaseki

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Joe Ajaero, the president of the NLC, berated state governors under the umbrella body of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for rejecting the Tinubu administration's N62,000 minimum wage proposal.

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Minimum wage: Father Mbaka sends key message to Tinubu, “Pay governors, lawmakers N62,000”

Ajaero questioned Nigerian governors who are calling for the decentralisation of the minimum wage, urging them to emulate Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state, who is paying civil servants a minimum wage of N70,000.

Source: Legit.ng