President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Monday, stated that the Nigerian government would find it impossible to set the new proposed minimum salary at N100,000.
Onanuga said this during an interview with Arise Television.
According to him, the country’s current financial strength indicates that both the federal and state governments will be unable to pay their employees’ salaries if N100,000 or more is authorized as the country’s new minimum wage.
Onanuga supported his claim with the reality that most state governors are still struggling to pay the current minimum wage.
He said, “Let me tell you, the last time it was done under President Buhari when the wage was increased to N30,000 per month, till today, 26 state governments could not pay it, out of 36, Only 10 are paying.
“The rest have not paid the whole rate or maybe they’ve just improved a bit. But mostly, according to the people who have monitored it, 26 state governments are unable to comply.
“Whatever the government wants to do now, even if we increase wages to 100,000 naira, will the Federal Government be able to pay?”