By Andrew Haruna
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted the recently approved N70,000 minimum wage, stating that it is grossly inadequate to cover workers’ basic needs, including transportation, food, and housing.
Obasanjo expressed his concerns in his newly released book, Nigeria: Past and Future, where he also accused labour leaders of betraying workers for personal gains.
“The minimum wage does not even cover transportation costs for some workers, let alone food, housing, and family upkeep,” Obasanjo wrote in Chapter 17 of the book.
He claimed that many union leaders have abandoned their duty to fight for workers’ rights and instead pursue political ambitions.
“How did it happen that a trade union leader, while in office, was negotiating with a political party to be adopted as a gubernatorial candidate?”
Obasanjo alleged that labour leaders engage in backdoor negotiations, accepting large sums of money to suppress workers’ demands.
“Rather than negotiate in the interest of the workers, they do sabre-rattling, and then they are called into the room, money is stuffed into their hands, and they keep quiet.”
The former president also criticized government officials who have admitted to paying off labour leaders to halt agitation.
“How do we explain a senior official close to the President saying, ‘We have paid them to keep quiet and stop agitating’?”
Obasanjo proposed a law requiring labour leaders to wait at least five years after leaving office before contesting political positions to prevent conflicts of interest.
President Bola Tinubu signed the N70,000 minimum wage into law on July 29, 2024, following negotiations with labour unions and the private sector. The wage increase replaced the N33,000 minimum wage set by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Obasanjo’s criticism has sparked fresh debates over the adequacy of the new wage and the role of labour unions in protecting workers’ interests.
