Governors reject N60,000 minimum wage, insist it’s not sustainable

Amidst the imbroglio orchestrated by the debate for an accept­able minimum wage between the organised labour and the Federal Government, the 36 state governors under the aegis of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Friday reject­ed the N60,000 offered by the fed­eral government insisting that the amount is unsustainable.

The NGF ‘s position is con­tained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by its Acting Director on Media Affairs and Public Affairs, Haji­ya Halimah Salihu Ahmed.

Also read : Minimum wage: FG offers over N60,000, Labour may end strike

According to the forum, ac­cepting the N60,000 minimum wage simply means that many states will spend all their Feder­al Account Allocation Commit­tee (FAAC) allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.

According to the governors, a few states will end up bor­rowing to pay workers every month, which may not be in the collective interest of the country, including workers.

The statement reads: “The forum’s stand on the: N60,000 minimum wage not sustain­able.

“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”.

Quadri Olaitan