During the week, a social media blogging platform, Nigeria Stories, posted a minute, thirty seconds video of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, with the headline “Just in: Lagos State Governor Sanwo-Olu confirms he has increased the minimum wage from 35,000 Naira to 70,000 Naira for Lagos state worker.”
The video was posted after a programme held at the Governor’s Office in Ikeja on April 24, 2024. This has generated a lot of confusion across different social media platforms as the federal government and the organised labour unions are yet to agree on the new minimum wage.
Claim: Babajide Sanwo-Olu has increased the minimum wage from 35,000 Naira to 70,000 Naira for Lagos state workers.
Verification
In Nigeria, the minimum monthly wage stands at 30,000 Naira, except in Lagos, which stands at N35,000. Generally, the wage rate is determined by the applicable collective agreement or the agreement between the worker and the employer. There is currently agitation all over the country for an increase in the minimum wage as it has expire in April 2024. Already, a federal panel consisting of state governors, trade unionists, and private sector and labour leaders is reviewing how much the minimum wage should increase.
While the new minimum wage is yet to be implemented, the federal government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, approved a N35,000 provisional wage, otherwise called a wage award, for all workers in October 2023. The president also urged the 36 state governors to implement the same in their various states and reiterated this on March 12, 2023, during the flagging-off of the Food Security and Agricultural Mechanisation Programme in Niger State.
CDD War Room traced the video to The Punch report on April 25, 2024, which corroborated the statement made by Sanwo-Olu in the video being circulated online. According to the report, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that workers have been enjoying an additional N35,000 wage allowance since January 2024. This is as he revealed the state government will soon roll out a new minimum wage scheme, and he did not mention the amount.
Furthermore, on April 26, 2024, The Leadership and Channels Television reported that the Lagos State government has denied increasing the minimum wage for its workers in the state from N35,000 to N70,000. Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said in a statement, that the Lagos State government had not increased the minimum wage, contrary to the impression in some media reports, which emanated from the unveiling of Eko Cares, the umbrella initiative for the various interventions to protect the poor against the effects of the prevailing economic hardship.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy of the state said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had been erroneously quoted as saying that a new minimum wage of N70,000 had been announced. “This is wrong. Mr. Governor never said so. He said since January, civil servants have been earning the N35,000 wage award directed by the Federal Government. “In other words, those earning N35, 000 now earn N70, 000. He did not announce a new minimum wage of N70, 000.”
Verdict: MISLEADING
The claim that Sanwo-Olu has increased the minimum wage of its civil servants to N70,000 is not true. However, the Governor of Lagos State confirmed that the administration has been paying an additional N35,000 wage allowance to workers in the state since the beginning of the year.
Leave a Reply