Aspirant says he'll make minimum wage N5,000 as President

While speaking to Pulse during an interview last week, the aspirant said hyper-inflation is the only thing responsible for the debate about increasing minimum wage.

According to him, the government has to work on improving the value of the naira through economic policies that'll ease the financial burdens on Nigerians.

He said, "I listened to Sowore the other day and he was having a speech with some people and said, 'I'm gonna make minimum wage N100,000' and I just laughed. What does N100,000 mean to an average person. He's a joker.

"I would make minimum wage N5,000.

"Let me show you a little bit of what we call inflation and hyper-inflation. If you hold N1,000 bill, the cost of producing that N1,000 is more than the value of N1,000. So, you've allowed us as a people to believe so much in money so you need N1 million, you need N100,000 so that you can settle more of your problems.

"You can have more economic value for N100,000. Meanwhile, you're not getting the real value.

"When you go abroad or live in some places outside Nigeria, when you talk about $100,000, it's like you're talking about the whole world. Cars are sold for $7,000.

"Why is it the amount of money keeps increasing and the value keeps decreasing? That is where the problem of the nation is. It's not the volume of the money that comes to you but the value that legal tender carries."

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.

How I'll fix education problem - Okeowo

The presidential aspirant noted that the easiest way to fix Nigeria's education sector would be to build new schools and institute payment plans that'll ease financial burdens placed on Nigerians.

He said, "Part of my objectives is to make education free, from cradle to tertiary to doctorate and your professorship. I'm not saying completely free, there's no free lunch anywhere.

"The government of Nigeria makes so much money such that we can put people in school and ensure that as soon as you get work, you pay back the school loan.

"Let's talk about the kids that are out of school. We have to build new schools and we have to build them close to where they live so that life becomes easy.

"We have to put incentives in place which is transportation, good classrooms and proximity of the school to the kids' house so that they don't have to stress too much before getting to school."

Nigeria needs leaders like me - Okeowo

Okeowo told Pulse that he became a politician and decided to run for president because Nigeria lacks leaders who know how to solve the country's problems.

He said, "There's a dearth of ideas in Nigeria as we speak. If you look at how the country has been run and where we've found ourselves till date, it's most unfortunate people can't see what the problems of the people are.

"So I, maybe because of my background and because of where I've been and a little bit of the stuff I've learnt and also by divine speaking, I think it's high time for people like us to get into the post of leadership."

While he believes that President Buhari is a good man, he also thinks it's time for the 75-year-old to step aside and allow the younger generation of Nigerians to take the country into the future.

He said, "The president is a good man. I have nothing against his person. Don't forget that he's one of the founding fathers of this country. They paid the prices for us to have a nation. He's been in the military over the years.

"But, maybe it's his own personal conviction or somebody advising him, he needs to know that people are dying in the country today."

Okeowo is contesting for the presidency on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The party will elect its presidential flag bearer on October 6, 2018.