The Nigerian Governors Forum last night had a meeting in Abuja to
deliberate on the N30, 000 minimum wage being demanded by the Nigeria
Labour Congress. After the meeting, the governors stated that the only
way they can afford the N30, 000 minimum wage is to downsize the civil
service. According to them, they cannot affot to pay that amount with
their current meager revenue allocation. Speaking to newsmen after the
meeting, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of
Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, said that a committee will be put
together to meet with President Buhari to discuss the need for an
increase in state revenue allocations .“Following a meeting of the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum where we deliberated on the national minimum
wage, governors resolved to re-strategise and put together another
committee to meet with the President once again, to work out another
formula towards quickly resolving the problem associated with the
proposed N30.000 minimum wage which is impracticable unless labour
agrees to a downsizing of the workforce all over the country or the
Federal Government itself accedes to the review of the national revenue
allocation formula. Members of the committee who were nominated to see
the President include the governors of Lagos, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi,
Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi. Enugu and Kaduna.” he saidGovernor Yari said that he
and his colleagues had seen the report of the Tripartite Committee
report presented to President Muhammadu Buhari. The report suggested
N30, 000 minimum wage. President Buhari last week received the rpeort
and said he will study it and advice the national assembly members
accordingly.Yari said that the committee did not consider the submission
of the governors who had earlier said they could only afford to pay
N22, 500 as minimum wage.“We have seen what has been presented to the
President by the (Tripartite) Committee. As a member of the committee,
our representative there said the committee did not take our submission
of N22,500 because it came late. I am surprised. How can you do this
without the input of the states because the states are the key
stakeholders in this business. So, a situation whereby our report was
not taken or considered by the Tripartite Committee … then I don’t know
how the committee wants us to work.” he saidAccording to Governor Yari,
the state governors really wnat to pay the N30, 000 but are currently
constrained by their meager revenue.''We still say we want to pay, but
the issue is the ability to pay. If we say no, it is not about the
ability to pay, just pay, I don’t know how this formulae will work and I
don’t know how we can get a solution to the issue.We are paying N18,000
(as minimum wage today), but when the President assumed office, about
27 states were not able to pay, not that they chose not to pay. So, now
you say N30,000, how many of them can pay? We will be bankrupt (if we
pay). So as Nigerians, we should look at the issues seriously. While
other people are saying that governors are riding jets and living in
affluence, that one is not luxury but compulsory. Like Lagos that is
paying about N7bn as salaries; if you say it should pay N30,000, now it
will be N13bn. From our calculation, it is only Lagos State that will be
able to pay N30,000. As Nigerians, this is our country; there is no
other country we have and we should be fair to this country.”Speaking
further, Governor Yari said “As for the way forward, we will continue to
talk with Labour. Let them see reasons and difficulties some of us
have. For instance, the money Lagos State is using to pay is not coming
from Abuja. They have a way of getting their money from the IGR and that
is why they can afford to pay. They get money through VAT (as well).
Apart from Lagos, even Rivers State cannot afford to pay. So we have
been crying out about this since 2011 but no one will listen.“One
critical example is that some states ration their salaries while some
others put everything they earn on the table and ask labour to come and
see and ask them to suggest how much should go for capital and
personnel costs. Some say 70 per cent for personnel cost and 30 per cent
for capital projects and yet the states cannot pay and they put the
remaining as outstanding.” The post We will have to sack some of you to implement N30k minimum wage- Governors tells Labour appeared first on emiratco Blog.
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