Nigeria: No, Nigeria's Finance Minister Has Not Proposed a National Minimum Wage of N105,000 - Almost Double the Current Level

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Labour leaders during the rally (file photo)
12 June 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Allwell Okpi

No, Nigeria's finance minister has not proposed a national minimum wage of N105,000 - almost double the current level

IN SHORT: As Nigerian unions try to protect their members from the rising cost of living, the claim that the finance minister has tabled a proposal for a new national minimum wage of N105,000 is false. Negotiations between the government and the unions are still ongoing.

Nigerian unions suspended a national strike that began on 3 June 2024 after the government said it was open to a new minimum wage of more than N60,000 per month. The current minimum wage is N57,000 (about US$38), with the unions initially demanding N497,000 per month.

At a meeting with organised labour on 4 June, president Bola Tinubu ordered finance minister Wale Edun to present the cost implications of a new minimum wage within two days.

In this context, posts on Facebook claim that Edun has submitted a proposal for a new national minimum wage of N105,000 - almost double the current level.

The government has offered up to N62,000, while the unions have gone down to N250,000.

Did the government offer a minimum wage almost double the current one? We checked.

The presidency and the trade unions deny the figure

In response to the viral claim, presidential aide Bayo Onanuga refuted it on his account on X (formerly Twitter).

"The Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, has not proposed N105,000 minimum wage. The contrary story being disseminated is false," he wrote on 6 June.

The president of the Nigeria Labour Congress Joe Ajaero also denied the claim. He told journalists that no new figure had been presented to the Minimum Wage Tripartite Committee, which comprises representatives of the federal government, the organised private sector and the unions.

To cast further doubt on the figure, the country's state governors say that even the N60,000 minimum wage is unsustainable. They said state governments could not afford to pay that much.

It is highly unlikely that the finance minister would then have offered the even higher sum of N105,000.

The minimum wage is a sensitive issue in Nigeria. Circulating false claims about it can lead to more labour unrest, cause market volatility and create unrealistic expectations about government spending and fiscal policy.

Other Facebook posts making the claim can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.

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Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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