Governors of the 36 states have rejected the proposed N60,000 new minimum wage for workers in the country.
The federal government had last week rejected the N494,000 proposed by the organized labour as minimum wage and instead offered N60,000 as the new salary template for workers in the country.
In a statement issued on Friday by the Director of Media and Public Affairs for Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Halimah Ahmed, the governors said the proposed minimum wage was too high and not sustainable.
They expressed fear that many states would allocate their entire allocations from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to salaries if the N60,000 minimum wage was adopted.
The statement read: “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.”
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