Senator Ned Nwoko has urged the federal government to pay nothing less than N100,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
He made the call at a recent event in Abuja, emphasising that anything less than would be an insult to civil servants.
The lawmaker representing Delta North Senatorial District said everybody deserves a rise even though the N100,000 will likely not do much given Nigeria’s current economic challenges.
According to him, the primary responsibility of government is to provide an environment for business owner to do well or create jobs where possible.
Nwoko said; “There are so many problems in Nigeria, from the economy to security issues, minimum wage and all of that.
“If you ask me about minimum wage, I will say that, at least, everybody deserves a rise. Even if we say a hundred thousand naira, I will think it is the ideal thing. But look, what can a hundred thousand naira do for anybody? Tell me, how many bags of rice can that buy? How many fuel tanks can that fill? So we have to be realistic about our economy.
“Government is meant to provide an environment for those who are doing business to do well or create jobs where possible. But we must have a minimum wage. It is not very good, to put it mildly, when people are paid a minimum wage that is abysmal and they are not able to achieve the basic needs of life.
“So, I think that a minimum wage of one hundred thousand naira is not out of place. That should be the beginning. That kind of amount should be what we should be looking at. Anything less than that is an insult on the civil servant.”
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