Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately increase the minimum wage, saying the current N70,000 wage floor has failed to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
Mr Atiku made the demand in a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council.
He accused the Tinubu administration of presiding over an economic crisis in which workers were earning higher nominal wages but losing purchasing power to rising prices of food, fuel, transportation, rent and other essentials.
According to him, the Federal Government’s decision to remove petrol subsidy caused a sharp increase in living costs without putting adequate protection in place for working families.
“The government pulled away the floor, offered workers a flimsy umbrella and now applauds itself while the rain beats down on them.
“Fuel, transport, food and rent have devoured their earnings. This is a callous way to govern people who work hard and ask only for the means to live,” he said.
Mr Atiku said the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 had not restored workers’ purchasing power.
He illustrated the decline by comparing the amount of petrol workers could buy with their monthly wages.
“At N1,400 a litre, the entire N70,000 monthly minimum wage buys just 50 litres of petrol. What does the worker take home to feed the children? What pays the rent? What gets that worker back to work on Monday?” he asked.
The former vice president said that at the April 2023 national average petrol price of N254.06 per litre, N30,000 could purchase about 118 litres of petrol.
He argued that the comparison showed that the increase in nominal wages had not translated into a corresponding improvement in workers’ living standards.
“The payslip has grown, but the fuel it can buy has more than halved. Tinubu has given workers a larger number and left them with a smaller life. That is hardship dressed up as a wage increase,” Mr Atiku said.
He also compared Nigeria’s minimum wage with those of some oil-producing and African countries, saying the Nigerian wage floor remained relatively low when converted at prevailing exchange rates.
According to him, using exchange rates as of July 24, 2026, Libya’s monthly minimum wage was approximately N213,000, Algeria’s N245,000, Equatorial Guinea’s N302,000 and Gabon’s N351,000.
He also said Benin Republic’s minimum wage was higher than Nigeria’s when converted at the same exchange rates.
Mr Atiku acknowledged that wage structures, exchange rates and living costs differ across countries, but maintained that such differences did not make N70,000 sufficient for Nigerian workers facing current prices.
“The Nigerian worker is the engine of this country’s productive life, yet Tinubu expects that engine to run without fuel.
“A worker leaves home before dawn, gives the country a full day’s labour, then stands at a bus stop wondering whether the money left will pay the fare home or put food on the family table.
“That is a national disgrace. You cannot work people to exhaustion, pay them into poverty and lecture them about productivity,” he said.
The ADC candidate also linked rising petrol prices to increases in the prices of other goods and services.
