The Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, have insisted that the payment of N30, 000 minimum wage was impracticable.
Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja late Tuesday, the governors however, said they would pay the amount if labour would agree to downsizing of the workforce across the country or the Federal Government agrees to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Zamfara, Abdul’aziz Yari who spoke to journalists at the end of the meeting said a committee has been raised to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to work out a formula to resolve the issues.
Members of the committee include: governors of Enugu, Akwa bom, Kebbi, Kadun, Bauchi, Lagos, Ebonyi, and Plateau.
According to Yari, the Tripartite Committee on the minimum wage failed to include the governors’ submission of N22, 500 in its proposal to Buhari because it claimed that the governors’ decision came late.
He said: “A Situation where our report was not taken or considered by the tripartite committee in the presentation to the president, then, I don’t know how the committee wants us to work.
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“We still said that we want to pay but the issue is the ability to pay. If we say no, just pay, I don’t know how this formula will work and I don’t know how we can get solution to the issue.
“Today it is N18, 000. In 2015 when the president assumed office, 27 states were not able to pay, not that they chose not to pay.
“Now you say N30, 000, how many of us can pay? We will be bankrupt. So as Nigerians, we should look at the issues seriously.”
The governor said that if the minimum wage was pegged at N30, 000, only Lagos would be able to pay its workers.
“Like Lagos that is paying about N7 billion as salaries now, if you say it should start paying N30, 000 the cost of salary will be N13 billion. From our calculation, it is only Lagos state that will be able to pay 30,000.
“Apart from Lagos, even Rivers cannot 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 cost. 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.”
Yari noted that the same labour leadership agitating for N30, 000 would still turn around to accuse governors of not investing in infrastructural development, wondering “how are we going to achieve that by paying only salaries.”
He said however, that the governors would continue to talk with labour leaders to let them see reasons why the governors have difficulties in paying the proposed wage.
The NGF Chairman disclosed that the governors had submitted their states audited account to the committee and that they would it to make further presentation.
