Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Thursday said the current N70,000 national minimum wage was no longer sufficient to withstand the economic pressures confronting workers and other Nigerians.
Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the current wage was insufficient to absorb the economic shocks confronting workers, while calling for immediate upward review of wages in order to get the best out of workers.
The politician, who served as Minister of State for Labour and Employment under Late President Muhammadu Buhari, stated this in Abuja during the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit, organised by XEM Consultants Limited.
The civil servants, under the auspices of Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, specifically demanded stabilisation of the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol at N500 per litre.
Speaking at the summit on Thursday, Keyamo criticised what he described as poor treatment of workers by some government agencies, particularly where workers were denied basic allowances while senior officials allegedly spent large sums on international trips.
The minister, who stressed the importance of prioritising workers’ welfare, described the human factor as central to productivity and national development, recalling that negotiations that preceded the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to the current N70,000 was during his time as Labour junior minister.
“Since we came on board, when I was in labour too, there were some negotiations till 5am-6am. I was minister of state for labour then. At that time then, we started to think that we would move it to 30 something but then the President moved it to 70. Sorry, I’ll speak up for workers this time.
“I think they still need to increase the minimum wage. It might not be what Labour wants or in terms of the extent to which they want it, but somehow we have to meet labour midway. We have to meet labour midway because I don’t think that what we achieve, what we have now, is pro rata enough to absorb the shock.
“Because without workers, the economy will not move. You have to prioritize the human factor in service work. It’s not the machines, it’s everything you. It’s a human factor. Without that, no machine will move. No other thing will move.
“The workers’ innovation will tell you how much I prioritize their welfare. Anything that affects the workers’ innovation, everything must halt until we resolve it first before we move on.
“I don’t try to browbeat them and write rough shots over them.
‘Once they bring it into my attention, everything will halt until we resolve that issue that affects them.”
