Naira Crash Renders N70,000 Minimum Wage Worthless—US Report

Naira Crash Renders N70,000 Minimum Wage Worthless—US Report

JOEL OLADELE, Abuja

The United States has dismissed Nigeria’s newly approved N70,000 minimum wage for federal workers as ineffective, saying its value has already been eroded by the continued crash of the naira.

In its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released on August 12, the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour described the wage as “no longer higher than the poverty income level,” noting that millions of Nigerians were not even covered under the law.

“The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024 doubled the minimum wage to 70,000 naira ($47.90) per month. Despite the increase, currency devaluation meant the minimum wage was no longer higher than the poverty income level. Many employers had fewer than 25 employees, so most workers were not covered,” the report stated.

The Act, which applies only to employers with 25 or more full-time workers, excludes seasonal agricultural staff, part-time employees, and commission-based roles. The US also observed that several states had declined to implement the new wage, citing financial constraints, while enforcement at the federal level remained weak.

According to the report, “the government rarely effectively enforced minimum wage and overtime, while penalties were low and not commensurate with other crimes such as fraud.”

The US further flagged that between 70 and 80 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce is trapped in the informal sector where wage, hour, and safety laws are rarely enforced.

Beyond economic issues, the report raised concerns about child marriage despite federal law pegging the minimum marriage age at 18.

“Federal law sets a minimum age of 18 for marriage for both boys and girls. While 35 states, all except Zamfara, adopted the law, many states, especially in the North, did not uphold it. In some states, children as young as 11 could be legally married under customary or religious law,” the report said.

It noted that the federal government had engaged religious leaders, emirs, and sultans to sensitise communities on the dangers of early marriage.

On human rights, the US cited cases of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and systemic abuse by security agencies. Amnesty International was quoted as saying that “dozens of young men detained at SARS Awkuzu,” a disbanded police unit in Anambra State, remain missing since 2020.

While Nigerian law requires suspects to be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours, the report observed that “government and security employees did not adhere to this regulation,” with bail terms often arbitrary and suspects sometimes held indefinitely.

The judiciary, it added, remains plagued by corruption, inefficiency, and undue political interference. Some detainees were said to have spent longer in pretrial detention than the maximum sentence for the crimes they were accused of.

“The shortage of trial judges, trial backlogs, endemic corruption, bureaucratic inertia, and undue political influence seriously hampered the judicial system,” the report stated.

It also highlighted practical setbacks, such as prisoners missing hearings due to lack of transport or lost case files.