George Akume, Secretary, Government of the Federation
Nigerians will soon begin to smile as the present economic hardship they are going through will soon become a thing of the past.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, made this assurance in Abuja yesterday while flagging off a new presidential initiative for women’s empowerment.
He explained that the economic hardship the masses are presently suffering from due to daily rising cost of living in the country will soon begin to change as more Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses make their way to the country.
Akume also announced that there is a plan in the offing to increase the country’s minimum wage.
He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Government has an ongoing preparations to announce a new minimum wage for civil servants.
The Secretary to the Government who represented President Tinubu at the event however noted that: “Ours is a complex federation, where the three tiers of government all have access to federation accounts and so if we work together, we can do more for our people.
“Things will begin to change as more compressed natural gas (CNG) buses make their way to the country and as we prepare for a new minimum wage.”
Recall that the Tinubu administration reached some agreements with organised labour in 2023 to suspend the nationwide strike.
The agreement included the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles as substitutes for petrol-powered vehicles, the cash transfer programme and an increment of the minimum wage.
In August 2023, the federal government said it would invest N100 billion between that time and March 2024 to acquire 3,000 CNG-powered 20-seater buses.
In December, the government also budgeted another N130 billion for CNG conversion and electric vehicles.
Also, the NLC demanded N794,000 as the new national minimum wage for workers in the South-West zone, while it put forward minimum wage proposals of N540,000 for its workers in the South East.
