Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed the federal government’s readiness to embark on the upward review of the N70,000 National Minimum Wage, saying the amount no longer reflects current economic realities.

Gbajabiamila disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the Good Governance Summit 2026, organised by the Working People United (WoPU), with the theme, “Policies and Governance: Impact on the Working People.”

He said, “This administration has delivered a new national minimum wage. In July 2024 President Bola Tinubu signed into law a minimum wage of 70,000 naira, with more than double the 30,000 naira that workers had endured for years, and recognising that the cost of living does not stand still, the President reduced the strategic review cycle from five years to three years, so that wages may keep closer pace with economic reality.

“The 70,000naira wage, which was a milestone in 2024 must be honestly reassessed against today’s realities, and I can confirm to you that when the time comes to begin the process of reviewing the national minimum wage, this administration will approach that endeavor not as an adversary of labour, but as a partner.

“President Tinubu has said time and again that the custodians of the nation’s machinery deserve a fair and commensurate wage, and as you all well know by now, this is the president who means precisely what he says and does exactly what he means.

“It must be said that good governance is not a performance stage by government for the benefit of a passive audience. It’s a partnership between those who govern and those who are governed. Nowhere is that partnership more vital than the relationship between government and the working people of Nigeria.

“It is with this understanding in mind that I ask the leaders of organised labour and the members of working people united to remain what you have so often been at your finest, partners in progress rather than antagonist in perpetuity.

“Let us choose to dialogue over disruption, because as we have proved again and again, we achieve far more when we sit together than when we retreat; retreat to our separate corners.”

In his goodwill message, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mohammad Dingyadi said governance is not just about written policies but, on the impact, they have of the workers.

“Let me begin by commending the organiser for choosing a theme that is both timely and significant: policies and governance impact on the working people. This theme falls to the heart of the relationship between government decisions, economic transformation, and the everyday realities of Nigerian workers.

“Governance is not merely about policies written in documents or programmes announced from government offices. The true measure of governance is the extent to which policies translate into improved livelihoods, central of increased productivity, social protection, economic opportunities, and dignity for the working people,” he said.

The National Coordinator of WoPU, Williams Akporeha said there’s no development without the working people.

“There’s no economy without the working people, there’s no productivity without the working people, and there’s no national development; look around this room. What we are witnessing today under the banner of working people united goes beyond the standard political gathering. It is an unprecedented historic convergence of Nigeria’s productive engine.

“For the first time in our contemporary history, the mechanic sweating in Apo, the tech developer innovating in Yaba, the resilient market women trading across markets in the country, the corporate executives steering bonding decisions, and the dedicated civil servant managing state bureaucracy are getting a city and standing shoulder-to-shoulder. We are all bound by one voice, guided by one vision,” he added