Federal Government Says there will be a New Minimum Wage in 2024

For a very long time, Nigerians have complained about the minimum wage in the country, stating that N30,000 is too small. When the prices of goods and services go up, the usual line is "Considering the minimum wage in the country, many Nigerians may not be able to afford these things." 

However, it looks like the story is about to change as the Federal Government is set to review the current minimum wage and implement a new one in April 2024. This news was disclosed recently by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed in Abuja. 

According to him, the Federal Government plans to allocate 24.66 trillion naira for salaries in the years 2024, 2025, and 2026. Having a budget for this means that there is a newness arriving for Nigerians after March 2023 and they will no longer receive the N30,000 minimum wage. 

The Federal Government said that they have realized how uncomfortable Nigerians must have felt since the removal of fuel subsidy by the President, Bola Tinubu on the 29th of May, 2023 when he was sworn in. To soften the impact of this decision, the government temporarily reviewed the minimum wage to increase from the usual N30,000 to N35,000 stating that a new one will be implemented in 4months. 

Wondering what a minimum wage is? 

A minimum wage is the lowest amount of salary/remuneration that employers are legally allowed to pay people who work for them. The idea behind this is to make sure the workers of any type of organisation can at least get fair compensation at the end of every month. This wage is usually implemented by the labour union of the country to ensure that no employee is unnecessarily exploited which means that regardless of the type of work you do, the least you can get is N30,000; you can be paid more but not less. 

What do Nigerians think? 

Nigerians have waited for this change for long and now they have a lot to say about the government's news. Some Nigerians, at first, could not believe their ears when the news came saying "This looks unreal." Even after diving right into the news to see the temporary implementation, many of them have also felt bad, stating that "N30,000 to N35,000" is not the proper increase they have envisaged, even for a temporary measure. 

There have also been a series of comments following the news which include: 

"Extra 5k for the shege ahead." 

"Minimum wage can't even buy a bag of rice, Nigerian in the mud." 

"What is the difference between N30,000 and N35,000?" 

However, the labor union has reiterated that the current development is only for a while and a new and better minimum wage will be implemented next year. 

For more news/stories like this, sign up on our website. Also, you may want to follow us on social media: 

Facebook: Hub for Jobs

Twitter: @hubforjobs

Instagram: @hubforjobs