The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has urged the Federal Government to review the ₦70,000 national minimum wage urgently.

The union warned that rising food prices, transportation costs, housing expenses and electricity tariffs have eroded workers’ purchasing power.

The union said the current minimum wage had become grossly inadequate to sustain Nigerian workers and their families amid mounting economic pressures, describing it as a “slave wage” that could no longer guarantee basic survival and dignity.

NASU President, Dr Makolo Hassan, made the demand in his address during the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja yesterday.

Hassan said the government must immediately review the minimum wage in line with prevailing economic realities, insisting that workers deserve a living wage that provides decent living conditions and protects their earnings against inflation.

He also called for institutionalised periodic wage reviews and cost-of-living adjustments to prevent inflation from continually eroding workers’ incomes.

“A wage that cannot sustain a worker is neither fair nor decent, and the continued impoverishment of Nigerian workers must be addressed as a matter of utmost urgency,” he said.

The NASU president argued that the struggle for fair wages, decent work and economic justice remained central to the union’s mandate, adding that workers who contributed to national economic growth should not be left with earnings insufficient to meet their basic needs.

He said the cost-of-living crisis continued to put severe pressure on workers’ households, with food, transportation, rent, school fees, healthcare, electricity, and other essential expenses consuming an increasing share of their incomes.

Citing a food inflation rate of 19.57 per cent in July 2026, Hassan identified affordable food as a major national priority. He urged the government to strengthen support for farmers, improve security in farming communities and invest in food production, storage and transportation infrastructure.

He also warned that the projection that nearly 35 million Nigerians could face acute and severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season should be treated as a national emergency.

On the consequences of petrol subsidy removal, the NASU president said fuel price increases quickly passed through transportation fares, food prices, and production costs, placing additional burdens on workers and their families.

He called for affordable mass transportation, including buses and rail services. He urged the government to assess whether interventions involving compressed natural gas and other programmes were delivering measurable relief to households.

He noted that the Monetary Policy Rate of 23 per cent reflects the high-cost credit environment facing productive enterprises, arguing that Nigeria needs affordable development finance to support manufacturing, agriculture and small and medium-sized businesses.

According to him, economic growth should be assessed not merely through gross domestic product figures but by its impact on decent employment, workers’ incomes, poverty reduction and living standards.

He said the reported 3.89 per cent real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2026 raised a fundamental question: who benefited from economic expansion when many workers could barely meet their families’ needs.

“The true measure of any economic reform is not the applause it receives in boardrooms, but the difference it makes in the lives of ordinary Nigerians,” Hassan said.

On industrial relations, Hassan reaffirmed NASU’s opposition to casualisation and employment arrangements that deny workers job security, fair remuneration and legitimate benefits. He demanded the regularisation of eligible casual and contract workers, equal pay for work of equal value and the prompt settlement of outstanding salaries, promotions, pensions and gratuities.