Nigeria President Bola Tinubu has announced a wage increase of twenty-five thousand naira for low-income earners in the country for the next six months as part of an effort to cushion the effect of hardship caused by fuel subsidy removal since May.
The president made the announcement Sunday morning in a national broadcast to mark the nation’s 63 independence anniversary. He explained “Based on our talks with labor, business, and other stakeholders, we are introducing a provisional wage increment to enhance the federal minimum wage without causing undue inflation. For the next six months, the average low-grade worker shall receive an additional Twenty-Five Thousand naira per month.”
In a further effort to assuage the organised Labor from embarking on their planned nationwide strike scheduled Tuesday, Tinubu said “boost employment and urban incomes, we are providing investment funding for enterprises with great potential. Similarly, we are increasing investment in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises”.
He also promised that from the month of October, cash transfers would be made by his government to 15 million vulnerable households in the country as part of a social safety net, but however, did not disclose the amount.
On the root of things in the central bank of Nigeria, the president said, “I pledged a thorough housecleaning of the den of malfeasance the CBN had become. That housecleaning is well underway. A new leadership for the Central Bank has been constituted. Also, my special investigator will soon present his findings on past lapses and how to prevent similar reoccurrences. Henceforth, monetary policy shall be for the benefit of all and not the exclusive province of the powerful and wealthy”.