Subsidy removal: Tinubu wants to double current minimum wage, says Ajuri Ngelale

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, says his principal wants to “double” the current national minimum wage.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Thursday night, Ngelale said the federal government understands that the removal of petrol subsidy is “hurting” Nigerians.

Currently, the national minimum wage is N30,000 but some state governments do not implement the policy.

However, after the removal of the petrol subsidy, organised labour has asked the federal government to increase the national minimum wage alongside the provision of palliatives to Nigerians.

On Wednesday, labour unions embarked on nationwide protests over the failure of the government to reverse some policies which they said have brought untold hardship to Nigerians.

Reacting to the development, Ngelale added that the savings realised from the removal of the petrol subsidy will be used to provide palliatives to Nigeria to cushion the effects of the policy.

He said the labour unions must be “fair” with the federal government during the negotiation of palliative.

“We won’t promise to do what we can’t deliver if we don’t have the money, we say we don’t have, it’s with the subsidy savings we can bring out all the palliative we are agreeing to…we understand Nigerians are hurting but let’s be fair in negotiations,” he said.

He added that with the removal of the subsidy, states now have enough funds to afford a new national minimum wage.

“It’s absolutely evident at this point and I do not want to preempt President Bola Tinubu,” the presidential spokesperson said.

“And I also don’t want to preempt the work of the minimum wage review committee. But what I will say is this, it is evident that the president would want nothing less than a doubling and I say nothing less.

“This means you’re looking at a basic minimum of a doubling of the current minimum wage.

“In June, the state governments received N300 billion more than they had received in any previous month over the last few years. So they have more money right now.”