(JUST IN) MINIMUM WAGE: N60,000 TOO HIGH, NOT SUSTIAINABLE – GOVERNORS
Read Time:2 Minute, 21 Second
The proposed N60,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers has been rejected by governors operating under the Nigerian Governors Forum’s auspices.
The NGF’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Halimah Salihu Ahmed, released a statement on Friday in which the governors expressed their disapproval of the proposed minimum wage, citing its unsustainable high amount.
NGF voiced fears that many states will use all of their Federal Account Allocation Committee monies for wages if the N60,000 minimum wage is enacted, leaving little money for development initiatives.
The statement read in part, “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum 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 can not 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.”
The NGF urged all parties involved in the negotiation process, particularly the labor unions, to take into account all socioeconomic factors and reach a sustainable agreement.
It stated, “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 a legitimate claim to public resources.”
The tripartite committee on the new minimum wage had offered N60,000, and organized labor had sworn to oppose even a little rise.
Festus Osifo, the president of the Trade Union Congress, reaffirmed this position when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today show.
After coming to an agreement with the Federal Government, the organized labor groups, including the TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress, decided to halt their industrial action, which had started on Monday.
President Bola Tinubu is dedicated to a minimum salary that surpasses the N60,000 that was initially proposed, as the administration guaranteed.
The governors decided that a new minimum wage was necessary less than twenty-four hours after Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, gave President Bola Tinubu a presentation on the financial ramifications of raising the pay.
PSC APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF YAHAYA ABUBAKAR AS DIG, PROMOTES 122 OTHERS
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0