New minimum wage: APC stalwart says Buhari’s assent to bill may cause chaos

BY: Oliseama Okwuchukwu

A former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh, has expressed fears that the new N30,000 minimum wage signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 18 would lead to chaos.

Momoh, who is also a chieftain of the APC, made the statement while addressing newsmen on Friday in Abuja as part of activities to mark his 80th birthday.

According to him, while he is happy over the new wage, he holds the view that it will lead to a situation where many states will not be able to pay and this will lead to industrial unrest and strikes.

“Minimum wage is not a living wage. My prediction is that the N30,000 minimum wage will cause chaos because many state governments that were paying N7, 500 before N18, 000 was introduced could not pay them.

“A lot of them are currently finding it difficult to pay N18,000 now. They are already saying they can’t pay and this will lead to strikes. When that happens, the nation is in trouble.

“The N30,000 minimum wage is not a living wage. What is the percentage of the workers in Nigeria that are entitled to the N30,000 minimum wage? What is the percentage of the public servants compared to the percentage of the entire working population in Nigeria?” he asked.