Only one percent of Nigeria’s population will benefit from the proposed Federal Government increase in minimum wage and palliatives.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration had assured Nigerians of palliatives and increase in workers minimum wage, as part of measures to cushion the effects of feul subsidy removal and hike in price of fuel.
A public policy analyst, Hon.Evans Ibegbulem, told newsmen in Owerri, that only one percent of Nigerians will benefit from any wage increase.
“How many Nigerians are engaged in the civil service, at the State and Federal levels?
“We have a population of 200 million people in this country. Those in the federal and state workforces are not up to 10 millon.
“If you increase their salaries, at the State and Federal levels, (assuming all State governors agree to increase their salaries),what happens to over 190 million Nigerians who are not in the federal and state civil service net”
“Are they not affected by the increase in price of petrol and subsidy removal?. What would be their fate? Are they not hunted by the adverse effect of subsidy removal?” he said.
Ibegbulem advised the Federal Government to extend support to entrepreneurs, operators of medium and small scale enterprises across the country.
“The multiplier effect would impact positively on the population and the economy. State governments should also be encouraged to make use of social registers.
“Such registers should not be politicized. I know that in some states, only names of members of the ruling party are contained in such register.
“What will happen to those whose names are not on the register because they are not members of the ruling party?
“The Federal Government must develop a holistic plan to capture 90 percent of Nigerians in its post subsidy plans. Anything short of it is unacceptable.
“If such plan is absent, the increase in minimum wage and other palliatives would be insignificant. It would be a drop in the ocean and Nigerians would continue to suffer” he said.
