Shehu Sani, a former legislator from Kaduna, has urged the federal government to address the minimum wage issue in order to prevent organized labor protests.
During an interview with Arise Television, Sani made this call.
He continued by saying that the Nigerian federal government has the capacity to address the issue of raising the minimum wage.
“I don’t know how a Nigerian can survive with less than N100,000 if you break down what the government is offering N45,000-48,000, you will see how unrealistic it is by the time you factor in many things. The position taken by labour should be considered by the government.
“It is one thing agreeing to increase the minimum wage and then the capacity to pay. Let us not forget that in the last few years, the government has been finding it difficult to even pay the ones that I already have on paper, so how this could be reflected should be considered.
“But from what we have learnt since the withdrawal of subsidy, the government has more money and there’s no better way to effectively and productively spend it than to increase the minimum wage of Nigerian workers to a reasonable point where he can adequately take care of his family,” he said.
The former lawmaker claims that the government has the funds to implement a minimum wage of N615,000 and that paying laborers a living wage is a good idea that should be taken into consideration, but only at a “reasonable point.”
Sani further emphasized that the public’s resentment stems from the perception that they are the only ones making sacrifices for the economy.
“Economic reforms are taking place in this country, there are consequences for the reforms. They are supposed to be sacrifices but it should be across the board.
“Workers are seeing that money is coming in trillions, they want their own share. When a nation subsidises, it makes more value for wages but when they are removed, you have to pay for it,” he said.
