Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider increasing Nigeria’s national minimum wage to N100,000.
AbdulRazaq made the appeal on Friday in Lagos when members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, paid a Sallah homage to President Tinubu at his Lagos residence.
Speaking during the visit, the NGF chairman noted that many states are already paying close to N100,000 as wages and urged the Federal Government to begin discussions on a new minimum wage benchmark.
“On the issue of minimum wage, most of the states are paying almost 100,000 naira today and I urge your excellency, let’s all have a discussion in moving the minimum wage to 100,000.”
“We know we will get the normal support from you as we go ahead to implement that,” he said.
GISTSMATE MEDIA earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu on Friday said the removal of fuel subsidy in the first minutes of his presidency saved Nigeria from imminent bankruptcy and that the difficult reform period was now yielding visible dividends for states and citizens alike.
“It was challenging at the time, but we survived. We faced litigation and accusations. We survived them. Instead of bankruptcy, Nigeria has survived. The economy has recovered. It is growing. Agriculture is booming,” the President said when he received state governors who gathered at his Ikoyi residence in Lagos to celebrate both the Sallah festival and the third anniversary of his administration.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed details of the meeting in a statement he signed on Friday titled, ‘Fuel Subsidy Removal Saved Nigeria From Bankruptcy, Says President Tinubu.’
In attendance were the governors of Lagos, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Taraba, Niger, Ekiti, Delta, Ondo, Edo, Adamawa, Benue, Enugu, Ogun and Kogi states, as well as the deputy governors of Borno and Kano states.
Tinubu argued that the subsidy regime had for years consumed enormous resources that benefited only a small fraction of Nigerians while depriving critical sectors of needed investments.
