The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, have called for measures to improve the welfare of Nigerian workers amid rising living costs and pressure from higher fuel prices.
Keyamo said the N70,000 national minimum wage had become inadequate because of the erosion of workers’ purchasing power, while Ajaero urged the Federal Government to deploy part of the additional revenue from higher international oil prices to cushion the impact of rising transportation and food costs.
The two spoke at the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit organised by XEM Consultants Limited in Abuja.
Keyamo, who previously served as Minister of State for Labour and Employment, said the current minimum wage was insufficient to withstand the economic pressures confronting workers.
He urged the Federal Government to meet organised labour halfway in ongoing wage discussions, noting that labour unions were demanding as much as N500,000.
The minister recalled the negotiations that preceded the increase in the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000 in 2024, but said the economic conditions that followed had substantially weakened the purchasing power of the current wage.
He also criticised the treatment of workers by some government agencies, particularly situations where employees were denied basic allowances while senior officials allegedly approved substantial sums for international travel.
“I will have none of it. Without these workers, we will not have a country,” Keyamo said.
He described workers as central to productivity and national development, urging ministers and heads of government agencies to place greater emphasis on their welfare.
“It’s not the machines or everything that you [have]; it’s the human factor. Without that, no machine will move,” he said.
Ajaero, in his contribution, focused on the immediate economic difficulties facing workers, particularly the effect of rising fuel prices on transportation and household expenses.
The NLC president said the government should consider using additional revenue generated from the rise in global oil prices to introduce intervention measures that would reduce the burden on citizens.
He said Nigeria, as an oil-producing country, was earning more as international crude prices rose, arguing that part of the additional revenue should be used to protect workers from the effects of the fuel-price shock.
“As one of the oil-producing countries, they are making trillions because of the problem in the Strait of Hormuz. You can see that oil was pegged at maybe $70 or whatever dollars. It’s $100, so they are making an extra $30 or $40.
“Now, can’t you use this money to embark on some interventionary measures like other countries where this is affected, so that we’ll now be alive till the time when they will say minimum wage?”
Ajaero said the value of a minimum wage should not be assessed by the nominal amount alone, arguing that inflation, food prices, transport costs and other economic variables determine workers’ actual purchasing power.
“Negotiations are not just figures,” he said.
He used the rising cost of basic commodities to demonstrate how quickly an apparently large wage could lose its value.
“Assuming one naira is equal to $1, I would advise Nigerian workers to remain at ₦70,000 because that would be big money for them, but you can see that you can equally get one million naira and a bag of rice is ₦500,000, so what of that? What happens?”
The labour leader advocated the indexation of salaries and pensions to inflation or the cost-of-living index.
According to him, linking workers’ incomes to changes in living costs would allow wages and pensions to adjust automatically when inflation rises.
“Unless you index it either based on cost of living index or inflation, immediately inflation goes like this, automatically it will adjust to this, as it is affecting pension, so it affects salaries; and those are some of the things that will enable us to agree on something.”
Ajaero also called for the minimum pension to be considered alongside the minimum wage, stressing that pensioners were similarly exposed to the rising cost of living.
He said the decision to reduce the minimum-wage review cycle from five years to three years was intended to make wage negotiations more responsive to changing economic conditions.
According to him, the current minimum-wage agreement is expected to expire around March or April, and negotiations on a new wage should begin early.
“This minimum wage is supposed to expire March–April, so the conversation ought to start early. That’s a three-year cycle,” he said.
He, however, said labour was more concerned about how workers would survive the current economic pressures before a new minimum wage was negotiated.
“But now we are more concerned on ‘give us this day’ — how to survive today before that time. Because these policies of the fuel going up, jumping up, and the Nigerian government is making a whole lot of money from it.”
Ajaero also questioned the effectiveness of government efforts to reduce transportation costs through the Compressed Natural Gas programme.
“Are we even producing enough in terms of food, reliance on food? Now, between that time and now, the most troublesome problem for a worker, which happened to be transportation — the CNG policy, did it work? Where and where can you refill your tank? How many vehicles have been converted to CNG? How many electric vehicles are on the road?”
He said addressing inflation, transport costs, food prices and currency pressures would significantly improve the ability of workers to cope with economic challenges.
Ajaero further questioned whether the government had sufficient mechanisms to contain inflation, stabilise the currency and moderate prices, recalling that Nigeria previously operated a price-control mechanism.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of XEM Consultants Limited and convener of the summit, Dr Eugenia Ndukwe, said the programme was designed to prepare senior professionals for life after formal employment.
Ndukwe said the summit addressed financial planning, health and wellness, entrepreneurship and investment, estate and wealth management, and agricultural enterprise systems.
She said technological changes were creating new opportunities for professionals to remain productive after retirement, adding that XEM Consultants partnered Galaxy Backbone to equip participants with digital skills and tools.
According to her, the summit sought to promote a new approach to retirement in Africa by helping participants develop personalised plans based on their financial circumstances, career objectives, health needs and post-service aspirations.
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