JUST-IN: 36 States Governors Reject N60,000 Minimum Wage, Declare Too High
Nigerian Governors of the 36 states in the Federation have grossly opposed the N60,000 minimum wage recommended by the Federal Government.
The governors, in a statement on Friday by the Director Media and Public Affairs of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Hajiya Halimah Salihu Ahmed pointed out that the N60,000 wage is not realistic and unsustainable.
According to them, implementing such an amount will equate to them borrowing to pay workers’ salaries.
On this note, the governors, however, urged the organised labour to have a rethink on their demands and work towards a fair agreement.
The statement read in parts, “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is in agreement that a new minimum wage is due. The Forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.
“However, the Forum urges all parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners.
“The NGF cautions parties in this important discussion to look beyond just signing a document for the sake of it; any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.
“All things considered, the NGF holds that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal is not sustainable and cannot fly. It will simply mean that many states will spend all their FAAC allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.
“In fact, a few states will end up borrowing to pay workers every month. We do not think this will be in the collective interest of the country, including workers.
“We appeal that all parties involved, especially the labour unions, consider all the socioeconomic variables and settle for an agreement that is sustainable, durable, and fair to all other segments of the society who have legitimate claim to public resources,”
Recall,The Pendulum Media on Monday reported that the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, withdrew their services and embarked on an indefinite strike which led to a total economic shutdown in the country after rejecting the Federal Government’s N60,000 offer.
In a further development, the organised labour leaders announced the need for them to relax the strike action for one week, to enable negotiations with the Federal Government, which had promised to increase the wage from N60,000.
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