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The former President’s aide, Laolu Akande, has called for the implementation of measurable and upheld life wages for Nigerian workers, emphasizing that remuneration in the country remains inadequate and damages work dignity.
Speaking at Sunrise Daily, a television program channel aired Friday morning, Akande used the background of this year’s worker day celebration to underline the persistent gap in the Nigerian labor system.
“Workers’ day is not just a celebration,” he said. “This is a moment to reflect on what is missing in the Nigerian labor system. We don’t pay a good remuneration at all.”
He criticized public and private sector entrepreneurs for what he described as a culture of kepuraan and dishonesty around the wage structure.
“Politicians will say that the government does something. The private sector will pretend to pay a decent salary. Workers also pretend to be paid well. But in reality, people are paid badly in this country,” Akande said honestly.
Although the President of the Tinubu soccer approved the new minimum wage ₦ 70,000 in 2023 after a long negotiation, the implementation remains uneven, with many states and private entities have not complied.
For Akande, it highlights systemic problems: there is no clear standard and can be upheld for what is a dignified wage.
“You have to pay people with true life wages,” he asked. “It should not be reduced to be a suspicion whether it is enough or not. There must be a way to measure what is worthy and allows people to live a basic life.”
He praised the new efforts by the federal government to increase the salaries of court officers but warn that these efforts must expand to each segment of the workforce.
“What the government is doing to pay for the judge properly is a step forward. But the principle must be determined for all workers,” he said.
When workers throughout the country renew the call for better wages and better working conditions, Akande urged the government to place the welfare of labor in the heart of national policy.
“This is not just about salary,” he added. “This is about recovering dignity to the workforce. When people are paid and well respected, productivity increases, and so does national morals.”
His comments echoed a broader sentiment among Nigerian workers, many of them continued to struggle under the burden of inflation, rising living costs, and stagnant wages.
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