The United States government has expressed concern over the continued devaluation of naira visa viz the new national minimum wage, warning that the recently approved N70,000 benchmark cannot lift citizens out of poverty due to the country’s worsening economic conditions. The US authority stated this in its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released on August 12, 2025 Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, Washington noted that the minimum wage, currently valued at about $47.90 per month at the prevailing exchange rate of over N1,500 to the dollar, has been severely eroded by the continued depreciation of the naira.
The report highlighted that though the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act 2024 doubled the wage from its previous benchmark, but its enforcement has continued to elude workers across other tier of government.
This is as the Nigerian government has failed to ensure compliance, while several states have refused to implement the law, claiming financial constraints.
The report partly said, “Many employers had fewer than 25 employees, so most workers were not covered,” the report stated, stressing that the legislation applies only to firms with 25 or more full-time staff.
It further observed that seasonal agricultural workers, part-time employees, and those on commission-based contracts are also excluded from the law’s provisions, making them vulnerable.
Although the report acknowledged that between 70 and 80 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce operates within the confine of informal economy, where wage, hour, and occupational safety laws are largely unenforced.
Although, the report observed that labour inspectors in the country is grossly understaffed to effectively monitor compliance, risking millions of workers vulnerable to exploitation by their employers.
The assessment is coming as Nigeria is undergoing sweeping economic reforms, including fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate removal, energy subsidy removal that have triggered a hyper- inflationary pressures that was never experience for more than 30yrs and has worsened the cost of living for common Nigerians.