Presidential candidate says Nigerians should be earning at least N50,000 minimum wage

During an interview with Pulse, she said it was unfair on Nigerians to be getting paid the N18,000 minimum wage that was set years ago, despite the the changing economic realities in the country.

She further said minimum wage should be regularly reviewed by the government to keep up with economic realities and help the citizens.

She said, "You have to revise the minimum wage. I do believe we can pay more than the N18,000 set as the minimum wage especially because of the way things are so expensive in Nigeria. Inflation has made everything much more expensive than when this N18,000 was set.

"In fact, there's supposed to be, every year, a review of minimum wage and then make it according to what is happening in the country in a particular year. You don't set minimum wage in 1900 and then be applying it in 2050.

"No, no. You have to keep going, checking what's happening in the society, what things are costing, and using that to decide what the minimum wage should be.

"I do believe that people should earn, at the current state of things in Nigeria, at least N50,000 every month should be the minimum wage for the way things are in Nigeria and I do believe that the country can afford it.

"We need to remove a lot of the redundant people in all our public offices. We can save a lot of money by reducing what it costs us to run government in Nigeria and then use that to do more things that benefit the entire country."

President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a 30-member tripartite committee responsible for the negotiation of a new national minimum wage on November 27, 2017.

Even though the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had promised that the committee would come up with a recommendation by the end of September 2018, he's appeared less confident in the past few weeks.

We need to get rid of Buhari - Atuejide

Atuejide told Pulse she decided to run for president because of the series of poor leadership that has plunged Nigeria into disarray. She said President Buhari has failed to provide quality leadership and must not be allowed to win re-election at next year's polls.

She accused the president of being too focused on the past and his perceived political enemies that he's not attending properly to the business of the country.

She said, "His most prominent failure is everything. Security, he failed; education, he failed. Buhari has not done anything right, he should go.

"Buhari has not done anything right as far as I'm concerned other than making sure the establishment are also suffering the pains that people are suffering and we do need to get rid of him. He doesn't have any vision for Nigeria.

"You've seen him go all over the world and it has always been a big embarrassment for us each time he opens his mouth anywhere in the world. No policies, no ideas of where he wants to take Nigeria and Nigerians to.

"That's the first job of a leader - show us that dream and we'll follow you there gladly because we can see what you're seeing. Buhari is seeing nothing.

"All he's seeing is the people that messed him up in 1983 and he's doing vendetta for them and is calling it corruption fighting. All those things that are in the past, that's what he's seeing. He's not seeing the future.

"He still calls Germany West Germany, East Germany; he still says things like women belong in the other room.

"Every time Buhari opens his mouth, rubbish falls out of it so why do we want to even consider putting him there again? If he was even responsible, he won't even be contesting.

"Why is he contesting to go there and still spend three more years abroad treating yourself. We don't need it. We don't need a Buhari in government."

CUPP can defeat Buhari - Atuejide

Atuejide also stressed that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) is strong enough to oust Buhari if it stays together. The coalition was formed when dozens of political parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and agreed to back a consensus presidential candidate to oust Buhari.

The 39-year-old aspirant said the coalition will displace Buhari in 2019 if the People's Democratic Party (PDP) stays true to its agreement.

She said, "I do hope that the CUPP stays together because PDP alone cannot remove Buhari. I don't believe PDP alone can remove Buhari, but I do believe that the CUPP staying together will remove Buhari.

"If PDP does it alone and they go away, there's a risk we'll have Buhari for another four years. But as long as the CUPP keeps it together and PDP stays with the CUPP throughout this whole thing, they know that the CUPP weakens them, but they need to be that weak in order to give Nigeria a better government in 2019.

"If they refuse to stay with the CUPP and try their luck, I believe that Buhari will be president again in 2019 and that scares me. That's why I'm working so hard to make sure that the CUPP stays together."

According to the coalition's agreement, a unity government will be formed by all the parties involved if Buhari's ruling All Progressives' Congress (APC) is defeated next year.