By Damilare Adeleye
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has announced that the state government plans to pay workers a minimum wage of N85,000.
Sanwo-Olu made this known on Wednesday evening during an interview on Channels TV themed “One-On-One with Babajide Sanwo-Olu.”
“You mentioned minimum wage and what I need to throw in for my people. I’m glad to let you know that the minimum wage for Lagos, which we’ve discussed with our union, is N85,000 today.
“It’s not a competition, so I’m not going to say that we’re paying more than some other people; it’s a function of affordability and a function of capacity,” the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu said he would be glad to come on air in January 2025 to announce that his government would be paying N100,000 minimum wage.
“We actually increased our salary earlier in the year and it’s deserving for our staff, and we’ll continue to do that. I want to come back to you in January and say that I’ve been able to increase the minimum wage in Lagos to N100,000. (This is) not because I want to make anybody look bad, it’s really because I want my people to have a living wage,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor stressed that he wanted people to know “that their government is working for them.”
He noted that his government would ensure that it tightened areas where serious expenses were not needed, so that “we’ll be able to give them (the workers) commensurate things that will take them home, not drop them at the bus stop.”
The governor’s commitment comes amid negotiations between state governments and organised labour on the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.