Increasing minimum wage can’t solve inflation in Nigeria – former Presidential aspirant claims
Orefo Nnamdi Onochie, a former presidential candidate for the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), has stated that raising the minimum wage won’t stop inflation and the rising cost of life.
In a statement released on Friday, he was speaking his mind in light of the nation’s current economic situation, particularly the recent complaints of ordinary citizens about the subject of excessive inflation.
Onochie, a former Nigerian ambassador to Algeria and the Philippines, asserted that the Federal Government and important stakeholders must devise a forceful and meticulous program to initially lower the rising cost of living and inflation by 32%.
He stated that “it remains to be seen and detailed how an increase in the minimum wage from N30,000 to N35,000 will solve the financial difficulties and issues of high endemic inflation in Nigeria.
“How will they transition to N100,000 per month when certain state governments are still paying the penultimate raise of N18,000 per month?” He asked.
“Technocrats only have the tenacity to pursue that track, and they can do it,” the former presidential contender continued.
“The politicians who were jockeying to be President in 2023 are now all unable to achieve it and have shown their weakness.”
To put Nigeria on a path toward a unicameral system of government where campaign spending does not encourage widespread corruption and vote buying, Mr. Onochie, however, called for restructuring the country and returning to the parliamentary system in place from 1963.
In his own words, “Nigeria is better served and governed through restructuring and a return to the parliamentary constitution of 1963, with modification to lessen harmful ethnic and political competition and set the country on a win-win unicameral path in which campaign expenditures do not bread massive corruption, delegates, and vote buying.
“A legislative vote of no confidence by the majority parliamentary caucus can be used to overthrow an administration that is not performing as well as President Muhammadu Buhari’s.”
