Nigeria workers’ hope of N100,000 minimum wage may be in vain, as governors have said they cannot pay more than N70,000 to workers.
This was the resolution of Nigeria Governors’ Forum on Thursday, June 6, after meeting, in Abuja. The governors said they have no resources to pay any amount greater than N70,000.
Two options were at the table of the 36 state governors, source said. While some governors said they cannot pay more than N60,000 earlier proposed by the federal government, some suggested following Edo State governor’s template of N70,000.
Following inconclusion, Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, was appointed to head committee that would resolve the different opinions on N70,000 and N60,000.
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“After deliberation on the minimum wage, we decided to consider options between N60,000 and N70,000 a month. We could not reach a concrete decision on the wage rate for states.
“Eventually, a committee, to be led by Governor Uzodimma, was mandated to look at all presentations and make recommendations,” the source told The Nation.
The source said N100,000 as minimum wage was not brought up as option because no state can pay. Continuing the source added that most states have not been able to implement the N30,000 minimum wage of 2019.
“No state can afford to pay a N100,000 minimum wage and we have ruled out this benchmark.
“Records available to us indicated that some states are still paying N18,000 because they are unable to afford N30,000 (which came into effect in 2019). Only a state has adopted a N70, 000 wage,” the source added.