The new minimum wage tussle between the Federal Government and labour unions have assumed another dimension as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), released a document revealing how much some Nigerian states are willing to pay.
Contrary to claims by governors under the auspices of Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), that state government cannot afford the N30,000 demanded as new minimum wage by NLC, the new document released now shows that no fewer than 10 states have offered to pay to more than the N24,000 minimum wage suggested by the Federal Government.
Uche Ekwe, Head of International Relations of the NLC, has indicated that no fewer than 10 of the 36 states had offered to pay wages much higher than what the Federal Government was tabling as new wage and warned that there would be no peace in the country until the N30,000 was adopted as the new benchmark.
Ekwe threatened that officials of the NLC would no longer attend any fresh negotiation with the government-led tripartite team, having negotiated and adopted N30,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
“We will never attend any further meeting for the purpose of negotiating or debating another national minimum wage having agreed on N30,000 last month with the Federal Government.” – Ekwe
According to the document, Plateau State had offered to pay up to N57,000 when labour initially insisted on N67,500 but later came down to between N25,000 and N30,000.
The labour document, which has now been released to the public as part of the NLC move to prove that the government was unwilling to pay more than what it is offering, indicated that Abia offered to pay at least N42,000, Jigawa N32,000, Nasarawa N31,000 while Kano offered to pay N30,000 as minimum wage.
Similarly, Gombe State was said to be willing to pay N28,000, Borno 27,000, Bauchi N25, Adamawa N23,000, Ondo N22,000, and Taraba, N20,000.
Nairametrics had reported that the Nigerian state governors have agreed to increase the existing minimum wage to ₦22,500. The new minimum wage proposed by the Governors would be an increment by 25 per cent.
Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari of Zamfara State, who’s the Chairman of the NGF, said the ₦22,500 would be an increment from the existing ₦18,000.
