Experts have expressed divergent views on the new N30,000 Minimum Wage Bill, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
TBI Africa.com quoted the experts who spoke in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The new minimum wage is effective April 18, as announced by the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) said that the increase in minimum wage by the Federal Government would boost access to mortgage and housing affordability by Nigerian workers.
Dangiwa said that it would definitely enhance access to housing by workers who were contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme, who were mostly the low and medium income earners in the country.
“FMBN is the foremost mortgage bank that provides affordable mortgage for the contributors to the NHF scheme.
“We honestly commend this initiative by the Federal Government, it is a welcome development,” he said.
Though workers were excited by the new minimum wage, some Nigerians however, have been nursing fears that the long awaited wage increase, when signed into law, may bring about inflation.
A housing expert, Mr Festus Adebayo, President of Housing Development Advocacy Network, told NAN that it might be a long journey to achieving low cost housing because of possible inflation as a result of the increased wage.
“I congratulate Nigerian workers; but what we need is more than minimum wage to be home owners as civil servants,” Adebayo said.
An Economist, Mr Lawrence Nze, who commended the Federal Government over the development however, disabused the minds of Nigerians who were thinking that the salary increase would prompt inflation.
Nze, an Agric Business Officer with Access Bank, explained that though there would be flow of cash that could make demands go up, the new wage increase would boost the welfare of citizens and overshadow inflation.
The National Assembly had passed the National Minimum Wage Bill of N30,000 and appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on implementation.
