By The Metro 
By: Bode Adenigbo, FCA
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s proposal of a ₦100,000 minimum wage reflects concern for workers but cannot address the structural drivers of inflation, meaning its value would likely be quickly eroded. The same applies to higher demands by labour unions, including figures as high as ₦1m, Nigeria’s minimum wage debate has therefore taken a dramatic turn.
Yet beneath these figures lies a more fundamental issue. Nigeria’ does not have a wage crisis. It has a cost-of-living crisis.
There is no minimum wage that can be permanently sufficient in an economy where inflation consistently erodes purchasing power. Today it may be ₦100,000, tomorrow it may be ₦200,000. In a few years, even ₦500,000 could be inadequate if prices keep rising. Prosperity is not measured by the size of a salary but by the value the salary commands in the marketplace.
Economics teaches a simple lesson: people do not spend salaries; they spend purchasing power. The real question is not how many naira workers earn, but how much food, transport, housing, healthcare, and education those naira can buy.
Ask the Level 7 teacher in Uso, Ondo State, or Abagana, Anambra State, who earned about ₦96,000 last month but still borrowed money to feed the family. That worker does not merely need more naira. That worker needs affordable food and lower living costs.
Money derives its value from what it can buy. In 2011, a minimum wage of ₦18,000 purchased significantly more goods and services than today’s ₦70,000. Inflation, exchange-rate depreciation, rising energy costs, and weak infrastructure have steadily eroded the naira’s value.
Nigeria’s minimum wage history proves the point. The national minimum wage rose from ₦5,500 in 2000 to ₦18,000 in 2011, ₦30,000 in 2019, and ₦70,000 in 2024. Each increase brought temporary relief. Then prices adjusted upward and consumed the gains.
The 2011 review was relatively effective because inflation was moderate and the naira was considerably stronger. The 2019 increase from ₦18,000 to ₦30,000 briefly improved welfare, but exchange rate instability, fuel price hikes, and rising food costs quickly diminished its impact. The 2024 increase to ₦70,000 came amid one of Nigeria’s worst inflationary periods. Despite the larger figure, many workers still struggle with food, rent, electricity, transport, and healthcare. The larger salary figure did not translate into proportional improvements in living standards because prices rose almost simultaneously.
The pattern is unmistakable: wages rise, prices rise, purchasing power falls, and fresh demands for another wage review emerge. Unless the root causes of inflation are addressed, the cycle will continue.
A comparison with South Africa is instructive. Both countries import rice, yet workers’ buying power differs sharply. In South Africa, a 50kg bag of rice costs roughly R900, while the monthly minimum wage averages R5,320. A minimum-wage worker can buy about six bags with a month’s minimum wage. In Nigeria, a 50kg bag sells for about ₦55,000, while the minimum wage is ₦70,000. A Nigerian minimum-wage worker can barely buy one bag, with only a pittance left.
The difference is not just that South Africans earn more money. Inflation is lower, infrastructure is stronger, productivity is higher, and wage purchasing power is better preserved.
No Nigerian worker eats minimum wage. Workers eat food, pay rent, buy fuel, settle transport fares, and pay school fees. Economic policy should therefore make these necessities more affordable, not merely increase figures on a payslip.
Other countries offer lessons. Singapore did not build prosperity through endless wage increases. It focused on productivity, housing, transport, education, and macroeconomic stability. China expanded industrial production, strengthened infrastructure, encouraged exports, and raised productivity. In both, living standards rose because output increased and purchasing power improved.
Nigeria must shift from bigger wage rate to cheaper living. That means increasing agricultural productivity to reduce food prices, stabilising the exchange rate, improving electricity to lower production costs, supporting local manufacturing, rebuilding transport infrastructure, and tackling insecurity that disrupts farming and distribution.
Any policy that substantially reduces the cost of food, transport, electricity, housing, and healthcare will improve workers’ welfare more sustainably than repeated wage reviews. If ₦70,000 could buy what ₦150,000 buys today, Nigerian workers would be better off without a single naira added to salaries.
This is not an argument against improving workers’ welfare. Nigerian workers deserve better pay and better living conditions. But a wage increase without measures to tame inflation gives temporary relief while worsening long-term pressures.
A ₦100,000 wage under persistent inflation will soon lose value. By contrast, a stable ₦70,000 wage in an economy where food, transport, electricity, and housing costs are falling delivers far greater welfare.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the Federal Government, and organised labour should therefore link any future wage adjustment to a comprehensive cost-of-living strategy covering food security, energy, transport, exchange-rate stability, productivity growth, and security.
The real challenge is not how often minimum wages rise. It is how the value of every naira earned can be protected. Until that happens, every new minimum wage will simply be another number chasing ever-rising prices.
Bode Adenigbo, FCA
Ibadan, Nigeria