Gradually, the issue of National Minimum Wage is dragging into a new year and the general elections will be less than two months away.

It has reached a level where putting pen to paper, with reference to the figure a civil servant will expect as alert at the end of every month, is the next thing to do.

But that is not happening and the labour unions are getting tire of waiting.

They had requested for 30,000 Naira as the minimum wage, but were able to secure an agreement of "anything between 24,000 Naira to 30,000 Naira", with the government delegation at the discussion that resulted in the putting off of a planned strike.

It was one of the issues that the presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, touched on #Bounce60Minutes, a Bounce News' live programme on social networks.

He said: "The minimum wage; I have said it, should not be anything less than 30,000 Naira minimum that labour is asking for, but it should not be more than 40,000 Naira.

The YPP presidential candidate further said governors who claimed they could not pay 30,000 Naira as minimum wage were not sincere.

"What you do is to find a balance. I believe between 30,000 Naira to 40,000 Naira.

"If you go above that you risk creating massive inflation impressions.

"But the government that is arguing that it cannot pay 30,000 Naira. For me that's a joke.

"The reason it is a joke is; if you know how much politicians have available to themselves in security votes, if you know how much money is wasted in governance, if you know how much money is paid monthly by state governors to godfathers, and they claim they cannot pay a minimum wage of 30,000 Naira, their 'yeye dey smell'" he highlighted.


On what should be considered before the actual amount is agreed, Professor Moghalu said two things were involved.

"There are two principles that must be factored into looking at the minimum wage."
1. Ability To Pay

"If you have a minimum wage, is the government able to sustain that minimum wage? can it be paid going forward.
2. Inflationary Impact

"You want to be sure that if you are putting up inflationary impact. If there is too much money in the hands of a lot of people chasing after too few goods," Professor Moghalu said.

http://news.bounce.ng/Content/minimum-wage-your-yeye-dey-smell-moghalu-tells-governors-20181216

Their yeye stinks to the high heavens. A government that cannot pay its civil workers $100 minimum wages. That one na government?