Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has declared support for organised labour’s call for a significant increase in the minimum wage, saying Nigerian workers have been left worse off by rising living costs.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Sunday by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, accused President Bola Tinubu of implementing reforms without adequate protection for working families.
He said the removal of petrol subsidy pushed up prices of fuel, transport, food and rent before any credible safety net was put in place.
“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,” Atiku said.
He stated that those with the least have been made to carry the heaviest burden of the reforms.
“Tinubu asked Nigerians to make sacrifices and treated the suffering that followed as an afterthought. Those with the least have been made to carry the heaviest load. That is the cruel arithmetic of this cost of living crisis,” he said.
Atiku said at N1,400 per litre, the N70,000 monthly minimum wage can only buy about 50 litres of petrol, leaving little for feeding, rent and transportation.
“What does the worker take home to feed the children? What pays the rent? What gets that worker back to work on Monday?” he queried.
He argued that the increase from N30,000 to N70,000 has not restored purchasing power, noting that at the April 2023 average petrol price of N254.06 per litre, N30,000 could buy about 118 litres, while N70,000 now buys only 50 litres at N1,400 per litre.
“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,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President also compared Nigeria’s wage floor with those of other oil producing and African countries, using exchange rates from July 24, 2026. He said Libya’s monthly minimum wage was worth about N213,000, Algeria’s N245,000, Equatorial Guinea’s N302,000 and Gabon’s N351,000, while even Benin Republic’s minimum wage stood above Nigeria’s.
While acknowledging that wage rules and living costs differ across countries, he insisted that N70,000 is inadequate for Nigerian workers given 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. If a full month’s wage cannot sustain a worker’s family, government has failed the people who keep this country moving,” he said.
Atiku said the impact of petrol price extends beyond the filling station to food, bakery products and school transportation.
“Petrol does not stay at the pump. Its price follows the farmer to market, enters the baker’s oven and appears in the fare a parent pays to take a child to school. Government then announces a wage increase and watches those costs swallow it before the month has begun,” he said.
He challenged President Tinubu to approve an immediate and substantial wage increase that reflects the real cost of food, transport, rent and power and to stop delaying negotiations with the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“If he has no intention of raising workers’ pay, he should say so plainly and stop stringing the Nigeria Labour Congress and other labour leaders along. Nigerian workers deserve an answer, not another round of meetings that ends where it began. I will begin the work of raising the wage floor from my first day in office,” Atiku said.
He added that Nigerian workers cannot be asked to endure further hardship in the remaining months of the administration.
“Tinubu has eight months left in this term. Nigerian workers cannot be told to endure eight more months of hunger while his government debates whether their wages are enough. He must raise the wage floor and bring down the costs crushing families. From May 2027, my policies will protect the people: support Nigerian production, deliver relief at the pump and provide targeted help to those hit hardest by the cost of living crisis,” he said.
According to him, better pay must be accompanied by measures to reduce living costs.
“If we are serious about repairing the damage, better pay must be accompanied by lower living costs. Anything less leaves the Nigerian worker as the guinea pig in Tinubu’s economic experiment,” he said.
Atiku said his plan includes a targeted production subsidy to support petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold locally, with a firm spending cap, public accounting and independent audit to ensure relief at the pump, alongside realistic wage adjustments and targeted social protection.
“Nigerians do not eat FAAC figures. A full treasury is no answer to an empty kitchen. The test of this government is whether the men and women who work all month can live on what they earn. A living wage must buy a living. It is not a privilege; it is a basic right. Tinubu has made life painfully expensive. I will make life affordable again,” he said.
