The Presidency has said it cost President Bola Tinubu so much to get governors of the 36 states to agree to pay ₦70,000 minimum wage.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said President Tinubu has been putting efforts in place to address the challenges Nigerians face.
Ajuri Ngelale said the President understands the challenges faced by Nigerians. He said a lot of work has been done and is being done to solve all economic issues.
Ngelale said this on Sunday while speaking on TVC Sunday Politics programme, on polices of the government and the planned August protest.
He said local government autonomy and minimum wage increase by 100 percent are part of efforts of the federal government to ensure democracy and good governance get to the citizens.
The presidential spokesman said, “There is no question of the fact that there is a lot of work to be done and there is a lot of work being done. The key is to recognize that the president has agreed that we are going to ensure that our states and now by virtue of the president’s action with the institution of the suit ultimately result to Supreme Court granting of local government financial autonomy he is going to ensure that the local government has the physical space they need to ensure they deliver the dividends of democracy that our people require at that level. That is restructuring in practice.
“It is his the administration of this president that we have had a 100 percent complete increase in the minimum wage. It will be difficult for everybody in the country to fully appreciate what it took in terms of leadership of the President Tinubu to get the private sectors to agree, in uniformity with the state governors and local government making sure that everybody is on the same page in terms payment of a new national minimum wage. It is not easy to achieve that.
“There are a lot of elements of what the president has done. Nigerians truly do appreciate and truly do recognize as progressives. We have not seen some of measures this President has put in place ever been put in place in the past years.”
Ngelale admitted that citizens are frustrated because of intense difficulty caused by increase in energy cost and food inflation.
He, however, encourages Nigerians to exercise patience with the federal government, adding that the country has been moving in the right direction.
“People are frustrated. People do feel that they are battling under this intense economic difficulty with respect to energy crises, food inflation and many of the other elements; but what we are working hard to communicate with our people is that the train is moving the right direction,” he said.
