State governors peg minimum wage at N70,000

The state governors are not considering a minimum wage that is higher than N70,000, according to the report of the meeting held by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum(NGF) on Thursday in Abuja.

At a meeting, the governors while reviewing the economic situation in the country, concluded that anything above N70,000 will not be affordable and sustainable.

Thefrontrank learnt that the governors also ruled out the N105,000 being suggested by some people.

The governors considered options between N60,000 offered to the Organised Labour by the Federal Government before the strike, and N70,000, which is what the Edo State Government has started paying.

However, they were unable to reach a consensus on a uniform amount, leading to the set up of a committee to harmonise their positions.

The position of the governors is in line with a statement by the Chairman of NGF and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq that states will only agree to a minimum wage that is “affordable and sustainable”.

“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 NGF will soon reconvene to consider the Uzodimma committee report.

“No state can afford to pay a N105,000 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 disclosed.