By Ene Mary McDickson, Correspondent, Frontline Daily | September 24, 2026

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has publicly acknowledged that the current ₦70,000 national minimum wage is no longer sufficient to shield Nigerian workers from escalating living costs, urging the Federal Government to meet organised labour "midway" in ongoing wage discussions.
Keyamo, a former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, made the remarks on Thursday at the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit organised by XEM Consultants Limited in Abuja.
"I think they still need to increase the minimum wage. It might not be what Labour wants or in terms of the extent to which they want it, but somehow we have to meet labour midway," Keyamo said. "I don't think that what we achieve, what we have now, is pro rata enough to absorb the shock."
The Minister stressed the value of Nigeria's workforce, describing workers as the backbone of national productivity. "Without these workers, we will not have a country," he said. "It's not the machines or everything that you have; it's the human factor. Without that, no machine will move."
Keyamo also took aim at public institutions he accused of shortchanging junior staff while approving lavish spending for senior officials. He criticised agencies that deny frontline workers basic allowances yet readily fund international trips and luxury overheads for management, declaring: "I will have none of it."
The ₦70,000 minimum wage was enacted in 2024 following prolonged negotiations between government and labour. But organised labour, represented at the summit by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero, maintains that inflation has since eroded the wage's purchasing power, with some union leaders opening negotiations with demands as high as ₦500,000.
Under the shortened three-year minimum wage review cycle introduced alongside the 2024 wage law, formal talks on the next adjustment are expected around March or April 2027.
Keyamo's comments come days after the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council issued the Federal Government an ultimatum, demanding action on cost-of-living pressures and fuel price stability by September 30.