President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on economic affairs, Tope Fasua, has linked Nigeria’s persistent poverty challenges to the period following the country’s independence.
Speaking in an interview on Arise TV, Fasua stressed the importance of adopting customised strategies to tackle poverty, warning against one-size-fits-all approaches.
He commended the recently proposed N70,000 minimum wage as a positive development but lamented that many states have yet to comply, with some reportedly still paying as low as N40,000—an amount he described as unlawful.
According to Fasua: “When we are talking about poverty, I said perhaps we need our own indices beyond the two dollars a day recommended, and the fact that they are recommended does not mean that we should take it hook, line, and sinker because we know our country, people, and culture more than the people recommending.
“So this idea of buying policies off the shelf, plug and play – that’s what we were addressing. My concern really is that let’s discombobulate this issue of poverty and hunger so that the government is not constantly gaslighted. We inherited a problem in this country right from Independence, even pre-independence, people have always struggled with poverty.
“The issue now is, how are we trying to solve it – given the fact that there is poverty everywhere in the world. My key concern is that part of the way we have used to reduce inflation and spiking poverty is to agree on the minimum wage of N70,000.
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“Some of the states have taken it to N80,000, some N75,000, and so on; this morning I was reading in one of the newspapers that only 16 states have actually effected it.
“We can’t expect people to continue to survive on the same salaries they were earning two years ago, while inflation in some critical goods like food has gone up by 200 per cent.
“I have met people who said they are still being paid N40,000 for a full-time job. In fact, it is against the law because there is a law that says you can’t pay someone in full employment less than N70,000, and that is what you pay an intern.
“I agree that there is hunger, but those things don’t define Nigeria.”
Fasua also defended the naira’s purchasing power within Nigeria, stating that $1 can still get a decent meal in the country, unlike in the US where $10 may not even buy lunch.
