The former Deputy-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, has said that, it is a shame that Nigeria appears unable to afford a minimum wage of N75,000-N100,000 a month following the rate of inflation and exchange rate in the country.
Moghalu who took to his official social media handle to make this comment, said, government plays much priority on wrong things.
Moghalu said, “It is truly a shame that Nigeria appears unable to afford a minimum wage of N75,000 – N100,000 a month given the rate of inflation and the exchange rate.
“This is because our government spends billions on all the wrong things (either pandering to vested interests like funding religious pilgrimages, or sustaining the lifestyles of politicians with wasteful costs of governance) to which it attaches political priority. The common man comes last for Nigeria’s leaders, despite their empty rhetoric.
“I do not support the labour demand for a 400K minimum wage which is unsustainable and would in addition be heavily inflationary. But I think if we seriously recalibrate our priorities, even the private sector can pay 75K minimum wage.
“A minimum wage is something to be paid by both public and private sector employers. Given the state of Nigeria’s economy and its low productivity at this time, we must achieve a balance between what is practically possible for both sectors. 60K is simply not good enough! It ought to be 75-100K. I have just made this point in an interview with @BBCWorld news tonight.”
Recall, the federal government recently offered a minimum wage of N62,000 to Nigerian workers which Organised Labour rejected, and asked the government to peg the new national wage at N250, 000.
Meanwhile, government has called on Organised Labour to reason along with them, stating that, demanding for over N200,000 by Labour is unrealistic, and that the country’s economy will collapse if minimum Page is raised to Labour’s demand.
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