Governors under the auspices of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have unanimously maintained that they can only pay the N30,000 proposed new minimum wage only if the organised labour agree to a nationwide downsizing of the country’s workforce.
The NGF also said the N30,000 proposed new minimum wage can be paid if the Federal Government itself accedes to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.
After an emergency meeting held in Abuja, the Chairman of the NGF who is also the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, who read the communiqué said that a new committee would be raised to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the issue.
“Following a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum where we deliberated on the national minimum wage, governors resolved to re-strategise and put together another committee to meet with the President once again, to work out another formula towards quickly resolving the problem associated with the proposed N30,000 minimum wage which is impracticable unless labour agrees to a downsizing of the workforce all over the country or the Federal Government itself accedes to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.” – Yari
Nairametrics recently reported that the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had given the Federal Government a final deadline to fully implement the N30,000 new national minimum wage.
The Labour union also brought to notice that any reduction in the N30,000 agreed by the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum Wage, as contained in the committee’s report to the President or any further delay in its passage will lead to devastating consequences.
Prior to This
President Muhammadu Buhari, in November last year, inaugurated the National Wage Committee led by former minister and Head of Service, Ama Pepple.
During the 40th anniversary of NLC in Abuja, the minister had stated that the new minimum wage would commence before the end of September, this year. He later backtracked, because the state governors were yet to submit their proposal on a new wage system.
In order to mount pressure on the Federal Government, the NLC gave a two-week ultimatum and then commenced a nationwide strike.
The minimum wage was last increased by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011 from ₦7,500 to ₦18,000.
