Samuel Adesola, Abuja
Governors of the 36 states of the Federation, on Friday, rejected the N60,000 minimum wage proposed by the Federal Government, saying it’s not sustainable for their states.
NGF Director of Media and Public Affairs, Hajiya Halimah Salihu Ahmed, disclosed this in a statement.
The governors said in the statement that the N60,000 minimum wage is not realistic and cannot be sustained.
They warned that if implemented, some states in the country would be forced to borrow to pay workers’ salaries.
The statement partly read, “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 that last Monday, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress embarked on an indefinite strike after rejecting Federal Government’s N60,000 offer.
But on Tuesday, the NLC and the TUC suspended 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.
