Nigeria’s new national minimum wage bill recently received the President’s assent and was signed into law, subsisting as an Act of Parliament effective from April 18, 20191. The act provides that ₦30,000 be paid as the new minimum wage to Nigerian workers; representing a 67% increase from the ₦18,000 formerly stipulated and paid as minimum wage since 2011. The wage increase emanated from concerns of inflationary effects on the real value of the previous minimum wage, and series of trade and labour union agitations for the government to increase purchasing power and welfare of its members. While delivering more income to workers’ coffers and increasing their welfare, the new minimum wage would also place strains on federal government finances and particularly on state governments that are largely in debt. Ensuring higher worker productivity and widening the tax net can help to minimize business and fiscal strains from the new policy.
