By: Sunday Ameh
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has explained how his administration would fund a proposed N500,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers if elected into office.
Sowore made the statement in a post shared on his official Facebook page, where he argued that Nigeria has enough resources to pay workers a living wage but suffers from corruption and mismanagement of public funds.
According to him, critics often question where the money for an improved minimum wage would come from, but fail to ask how politicians fund what he described as extravagant lifestyles, huge salaries, allowances and political projects.
The activist alleged that Ondo State Governor, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, kept hundreds of billions of naira in bank accounts to generate interest while many residents continue to battle poverty, unemployment, poor healthcare and failing education systems.
Sowore also alleged that massive funds were being reserved for political campaigns ahead of future elections while workers were told that paying higher wages would be impossible or trigger inflation.
“Nigeria does not have a shortage of money. It has a surplus of greed, corruption, and misplaced priorities,” he stated.
He maintained that if government officials could access huge public funds for politics and personal luxury, then there should also be enough resources to improve workers’ welfare.
According to Sowore, “₦500,000 minimum wage is not the problem. The problem is a political class that treats public funds as private property while millions of Nigerians suffer.”
The post was shared with hashtags including #WorkersRights, #LivingWage, #TakeItBack, #Sowore2027 and #RevolutionNow.
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