The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has described the recent proposal by state governors for an upward review of the national minimum wage to N100,000 as further proof of how President Bola Tinubu’s reforms have made the sub-nationals liquid enough to independently opt for pay increase.
Although the organised private sector hasn’t reacted to this proposal, it’s uncertain if they would accede to it. However, a new minimum wage could help average workers cope with the inflationary trend.
In a statement by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group pointed out that the governors’ position was radically different from their stance in 2024 when President Tinubu proposed a new minimum wage of N70,000.
The statement read in part: “Like many Nigerians, we were stunned to see the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Governor of Kwara state AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq proposing a new National minimum of N100,000 during a sallah visit to President Bola Tinubu. It was indeed an unusual move because state governors are not known for proposing wage increases in living memory.
“We acknowledge that this is coming two years after some governors displayed stiff reluctance to accept the Federal Government’s offer of a N70,000 minimum wage.
“But we are also aware that within a few months of the new minimum wage taking effect, several states, on their own, increased workers’ salaries to as much as N85,000 in the case of Lagos and Rivers states while Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu and Akwa Ibom states offered to pay N80,000.
“Several others like Ogun, Delta, Benue and Osun are paying between N75,000 and N77,000 while Imo state adopted N104,000 in September 2025 as the new minimum wage.
“It is a matter of public record that many of these states were unable to regularly pay the then minimum wage of N30,000 until the advent of the President Bola Tinubu administration which introduced economic reforms that made more funds available to the sub-nationals from the federation account.
“That the states are formally proposing a higher wage structure than the one institutionalised two years ago is a soft admittance by governors that the sub-nationals are more liquid than ever before. This is a pleasant development.
“We are aware that many of them, especially the ones in their second term, have publicly admitted to having more funds than previously to carry out infrastructural projects. Many states also have more funds to pay pensions while recent data published by the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that the states are no longer borrowing domestically to pay salaries.
“We dare say that it is a testament to the robust efficacy of the Tinubu reforms that state governors, without being prompted, are proposing a higher minimum wage in response to the cost-of-living crisis in the aftermath of the crisis in the Middle East.
“And although a new National minimum wage will still take some time before it becomes reality, we are convinced that President Tinubu may even push for a higher figure to meet current realities.”
The group urged Nigerians to see the current administration as one that has the best interest of the citizenry in mind regardless of the position of opposition elements.
