Nigerian State Governors have come together to explain why they cannot afford to pay the N18,000 minimum wage. Here is how the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari explained it.
“Let me make it very clear to Nigerians, governor’s forum is not the enemy of labour in any way. Rather, we have been working together. But what we are saying, (because not only Gov. Wike but also my friend in the comradeship, Adams Oshiomhole, kicked against the decision).
“What we said is that when the National Assembly enacted the law of paying N18, 000 minimum wage, then the oil was about $118 per barrel and today where we are oil is $41 per barrel.
“So, if it continues like that definitely we will find it difficult to continue. We have to sit down with the labour and see how we can review; either continue or downsizing, or see what we are going to do.
“We want to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so many things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for security, there are other things like social lives of our people and nation as a state.
“And there are other issues, not even the salary, their pension is over a billion. So, how can we continue borrowing and servicing the service aspect of our expenditure, or overhead. How can we do that?
“We are telling the public that we are planning to sit down with the president and his team and the state governors as a team and the experts to come out with the way forward and how we are going to handle the poor state of the economy in the country.
“But what we have on ground now will not be realistic if it continues the way it is without having other sources from the economy and still relying on oil that is being sold for $118 dollar per barrel and now down to $41 and think that we can continue behaving or misbehaving the way we are doing, if there is anything like that.”