No One Can Live on N70,000, Not Even a Newborn – Sowore

The African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate for the 2027 general election, Omoyele Sowore, has declared that no Nigerian can realistically survive on the current N70,000 minimum wage, insisting that even his proposed N500,000 wage would be inadequate amid the country’s soaring cost of living.

Sowore made the remarks on Friday morning while appearing as a guest on Rapid FM in Rivers State. The activist and former presidential candidate was defending his long-standing proposal for a N500,000 minimum wage when the presenter questioned whether increasing workers’ salaries could worsen inflation by putting more money into circulation without a corresponding increase in productivity. Sowore firmly rejected this argument, stating that Nigeria’s inflation was primarily being driven by the rising cost of production and government policies rather than workers’ wages. He said the N70,000 minimum wage was grossly inadequate for workers to meet their most basic needs, including food, transportation, accommodation and clothing.

“There’s nobody technically, or realistically, that can live on N70,000 a month, even a newborn baby,” Sowore said. He added that his proposed N500,000 minimum wage should not be regarded as excessive given current economic realities. “Even the N500,000 I’m proposing, in my view, it’s too small. But just for the sake of argument, say, okay, let’s pay people just enough to be able to make a living. That’s what the proposal is about,” he said.

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Sowore argued that Nigeria was experiencing what economists describe as “cost-push inflation”, which occurs when rising production and input costs drive up the prices of goods and services. “It’s driven by cost. The type of inflation we have is called cost-push inflation. And it is because the cost of production is very high,” he said. According to him, rising electricity tariffs have contributed significantly to the increase in the cost of production across the country. “You know how much electricity tariffs have jumped in the last three years,” he said. He also linked the rising cost of transportation to the removal of the petrol subsidy by the Federal Government, noting that the increase in fuel prices had translated into higher transportation costs for workers, businesses and consumers.

“It is caused by transportation cost. As a result of the removal of fuel subsidy, wherever you were going for N500 before, it became N2,000. That’s the cost of your inflation,” he said. He further blamed the depreciation of the naira and Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported goods for worsening the economic situation. “When they just came and floated the naira, at the same time they removed subsidy. That’s the cause of inflation,” he said. Sowore argued that reducing inflation would require the government to tackle the high cost of electricity, transportation and production rather than suppressing workers’ wages. “If you want to change the direction of that inflation, you have to deal with this. You have to reduce electricity tariff. You have to bring back fuel subsidy. That would then force down the cost of transportation and reduce the cost of production,” he said.

The AAC candidate illustrated his argument by comparing Nigeria’s domestic production costs with those of other countries, warning that high energy and transportation costs could eventually make it cheaper to import basic commodities than produce them locally. “It is easier for you to import garri – I just want to be ridiculous by saying from China, than to produce it in Rivers State now because the cost of production of garri in China is lower,” he said. He said Nigeria must make its productive sector more competitive by reducing energy and transportation costs while providing reliable infrastructure for businesses and industries.

Sowore also rejected the argument that higher wages should be tied to concerns over workers’ productivity. He said workers enter into contractual relationships with employers to provide labour in exchange for adequate compensation, while employers and supervisors should be responsible for monitoring productivity. “As long as you come to work as a contract, and you work from, say, 8 o’clock to 2pm or 4pm, I’m going to pay you enough money to enable you to survive,” he said. “The argument as to whether the civil servants are doing work or not is not the argument we are having. That one is regulatory. That is the job of the supervisor,” he added.

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Sowore also questioned the disparity between the earnings of ordinary workers and the allowances, security details, convoys and other benefits enjoyed by political office holders. He argued that government could afford to improve workers’ wages by reducing what he described as wasteful spending and the high cost of governance. “What has the Nigerian worker done wrong to you that you cannot take a little bit now?” he asked. He criticised the use of large convoys by governors and other public officials, questioning the necessity of some government expenditure. “I don’t understand till tomorrow why a governor who is living in his house in Port Harcourt, to go to his office needs an outrider,” Sowore said. “I don’t know why a governor should commission a project in the first place. If a project is completed, it should be commissioned by use,” he added. The presidential candidate also questioned the large security votes allocated to governors, saying such expenditure should be scrutinised and redirected where necessary. “We waste so much money,” he said.

Using food costs as an example, Sowore demonstrated why the current minimum wage was already insufficient to cover workers’ daily meals. “If you eat three times a day, and you are eating N500 food, you eat N1,500. When you go to work or not, you will eat,” he said. “Multiply N1,500 by 30 days in a month. Are we not already past N70,000? Are you not going to transport yourself? Are you not going to wash your clothes?” He said the debate should therefore focus on whether workers could actually survive on their salaries rather than whether N500,000 was too much. “That is the argument. It’s very simple,” he said. Sowore insisted that reducing the cost of governance could help fund better wages and improve workers’ ability to remain productive. “If you don’t want people to work, you don’t want them to go to work, then don’t hire people to work for you. But the moment you have that contract, there’s so much work for you,” he said. “The moment you have that contract, you must ensure that their living conditions are at least able to support their motivation or their ability to get to work and back,” Sowore added.

Sowore’s remarks come amid growing calls from labour unions for a comprehensive wage review. At the Nigeria Rights of Workers Summit 2026 held in Birnin Kebbi in early August, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) formally demanded a N500,000 minimum wage, aligning with Sowore’s long-standing position. The unions argued that the current N70,000 wage had been overtaken by economic realities. NLC Deputy President Adewale Adeyanju stated that the current N70,000 minimum wage “can no longer adequately respond to the realities confronting Nigerian workers, particularly with the rising cost of living.” The NLC and TUC said the period agreed for the last minimum wage review had expired in July, making it necessary to commence fresh negotiations with the Federal Government.

Additionally, the Federal Workers Forum has written to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly, demanding an immediate increase in the federal minimum wage from N70,000 to N300,000, arguing that the current salary structure can no longer sustain civil servants amid Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis. The forum also proposed a maximum salary of N1.5 million for Level 17 officers, describing the current wage structure as “suicidal” for federal workers. According to a recent BudgIT report, workers in Nigeria’s most expensive states are left with as little as N7,261 a month after meeting the minimum cost of a healthy diet. The report showed that in Ekiti State, an estimated N62,739 of the N70,000 monthly wage was required to feed an adult adequately, exposing the weakness of judging wage adequacy simply by whether monthly income exceeds the cost of food.

No One Can Live on N70,000, Not Even a Newborn – Sowore