The federal government has said there would be no difficulties in financing the new ₦70,000 minimum wage signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Wale Edun, said this on Tuesday while speaking on AIT Money Line with Nancy, monitored by our reporter.
Wale Edun said the Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) have pledged to the federal government there will be increase in crude oil output to 2 million barrels per day to ensure the government has more funds to finance the 2024 projects.
Edun noted that at the current crude oil rate of $80 per barrel, Nigeria will have sufficient funds to finance the new minimum wage if the Ministry of Petroleum and NNPCL fulfill their promise.
“On how we will get money to pay the minimum wage, the Ministry of Petroleum through the NNPC has committed to 2 million barrels a day. At $80 dollar per barrel, it takes us out of the woods not just in the short term but in the medium term,” he said.
When asked about the timeline for the national crude oil output to reach the promised 2 million barrels per day, the Minister of Finance said only the Ministry of Petroleum and NNPC would answer the question.
Naturenex had reported that Operation Safe Niger Delta Joint Task Force, on Sunday, said from August 1 to 3 total cruse output of Nigeria reached 1.7 million barrels.
The statement from the Coordinator of Joint Media Campaign Centre of the task force, Major Kayode Owolabi, said, the 1.7 million output indicated that International Oil Companies are operating at maximum production capacity with little interruption or vandalism along the three major pipelines.
