File photo..Labour rally
Following the agreement of N62,000, from N60,000, as minimum wage by the Federal Government and the organized private sector, governors have said they cannot pay even the N60,000, let alone N62,000, reports Political Economist NG.
Recall that on Friday, the Federal Government and private sector agreed on N62,000 from the earlier N60,000, but the organised labour settled for N250,000 from its earlier N494,000.
But in a swift reaction, the 36 state governors said that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government is not sustainable and cannot be implemented.
A statement by the Acting Director, Media Affairs and Public Relations of the Governors’ Forum, Mrs Halima Ahmed, said that if allowed to stand, many states will use all their monthly allocations from the federation account to pay workers’ salaries. They appealed to the tripartite committee to agree on a minimum wage that would be fair and sustainable.
Political Economist NG reports that not all states have been paying the old minimum wage of N30,000.
Friday’s meeting meant the winding down of the tripartite committee set up in January this year by the Federal Government.
The recommendations will now be forwarded to President Bola Tinubu, who will in turn send an Executive bill to the National Assembly for legislative action to back the new minimum wage.
It’s not clear if organized Labour will accept the N62,000 as against its position of N250,000, but should Labour reject the latest figure, it means they may resume their strike which was only suspended for five days to give room for the deliberations.
