Make N100,000 new minimum wage, Salis urges Tinubu
Following the recent announcement of additional N35,000 to salaries of all categories of workers, a New York- based lawyer and chartered accountant, Owolabi Salis, has urged Federal Government to make N100,000 the new minimum wage.
Salis, in a statement, said all indices showed that most Nigerians are going through harrowing experiences as a result of economic hardship. This, he noted, has made life miserable for millions of Nigerians, especially workers, who now live from hand to mouth.
Salis recalled that when the Federal Government announced N30,000 as minimum wage in 2019, the exchange rate was N325 to a dollar. He said: “Today, the exchange rate is N1,000 to a dollar, which even makes it brutish, brash and unbearable for most Nigerian families.
“This is aside food inflation and insecurity that has made hunger constant in many homes and communities. Worse still, public universities and government colleges have hiked their fees in a manner that makes education the exclusive preserve of the rich. N100,000 is just $100 as against over $20,000 paid to some politicians monthly. Isn’t it ridiculous? When you remove feeding, housing, and transportation from the less than $100, the money is gone.
“The politicians have put their own wages in current terms, hedged against inflation while leaving the less privileged out. Nigeria currently has the most wicked politicians in the world, careless about the people who they govern. They are only concerned about themselves. Paying low wages promotes truancy and corruption at work. The president needs to address this matter.”
