Nigeria, Sept. 18 -- The Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, said Nigeria can afford a N500,000 monthly minimum wage by cutting government waste, recovering unpaid oil royalties and blocking financial leakages.

Mr Sowore, who spoke virtually from the United States on Channels Television's Politics Today on Thursday, said his proposal would increase the federal wage bill by about N7.1 trillion but argued that the funds could be generated through reforms to government spending.

"Where we get that from is when we cut waste," he said.

The AAC candidate said his calculations showed that between N3 trillion and N4 trillion could be saved by eliminating waste in government. He added that recovering unp...