GOVERNORS’ FORUM INSISTS N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE NOT AFFORDABLE
GOVERNORS’
FORUM INSISTS N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE NOT AFFORDABLE
The Nigeria
Governors’ Forum has insisted that state governors cannot afford to pay the
N30,000 minimum wage demanded by the labour unions.
“There is no way
states will abide by N30,000 minimum wage just because the president said so,”
NGF spokesman Abdulrazaqe Bello-Barkindo said on Channels Television’s Sunrise
daily.
The governors of
Nigeria’s 36 states after a meeting on October 30 said they could only pay
N22,500 as the new national minimum wage.
However, the
tripartite committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari submitted a report
that proposed a N30,000 minimum wage. Though Buhari didn’t endorse the proposed
minimum wage, he said he was committed to having a new National Minimum wage
act soon.
The governors have
complained of a paucity of funds which hinders them from financing the huge
fiscal responsibility.
“When they had their
last meeting, it was made very clear that governors can only pay up to 50
percent as salaries and other 50 percent of the revenue will go into education,
health, infrastructure,” Bello-Barkindo noted.
The country’s labour
unions insisted on a minimum wage of N30,000 and threatened to embark on an
indefinite strike if their demands are not met.
However, the
projected strike was suspended on Tuesday after the federal government agreed
to consider the organized labour demands.
Against the federal
government’s conciliatory concession, Bello-Barkindo, however, stated that “if
the NLC plays its game right maybe governors would adjust not definitely to
25000 or 30000 naira but to maybe adjust by N50 or N1,500.”
Despite the
governors’ position on the minimum wage, Bello-Barkindo insisted that the
governors are sensitive to the workers’ needs but there are more vulnerable
people who need the money in the society.
The group’s spokesman
alleged that the NLC is “bad-washing” the governors and affirmed that labour
unions “lack initiative.”
“Labour in Nigeria is
lacking initiative. They don’t work for the workers, they only ask for money or
go on strike, they don’t do anything. They continue to look at governors and
says governors are spending money,” Bello-Barkindo said.
“Remember there was a
labour president that became governor he didn’t move around in bicycles but he
moves around in convoys,” he added.
Bello-Barkindo
maintained that the governor had agreed that each state will only take care of
its workers according to the revenue generated in the state.
“Some states have
been struggling with N18,000 how do you expect to pay more than N22500 but I
believe that in coming days or weeks their is going to be a resolution by the
governors,” Bello-Barkindo said.
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