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BREAKING: State Governors Reject FG N60,000 Minimum Wage Proposal, Says Not Sustainable
The Forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.
Abuja, Nigeria– The Nigeria Governors’ Forum comprising 36 state governors has vehemently opposed the Federal Government’s proposed N60,000 minimum wage, asserting its lack of sustainability and feasibility
This is contained in a statement by the Acting Director, Media Affairs and Public Relations of the Forum, Mrs Halima Ahmed, stated that if allowed to fly, many states will use all their monthly allocations from the federation account to pay workers’ salaries.
“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 can not 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,” the statement read.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had on Monday embarked on indefinite strike action after rejecting the federal government’s N60, 000 offer as minimum wage.
However, the Labour Union relaxed the strike for one week to give room for further negotiations with the federal government, which had promised to increase the wage from N60,000.