Nigerian governors will eventually
reduce the federal minimum wage of N18,000 or downsize because of the
current economic crunch, the chairman of the body of governors has said.
The
chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and Zamfara state governor,
Abdulaziz Yari, said on Thursday that irrespective of public
condemnations of the plan, it would not be economically feasible to
retain the same workforce and pay same amount of money. Governors: We can’t pay N18, 000 minimum wage.
According
to him, funds allocated from the Federation Account could no longer
sustain the expenses of the state as the internally generated revenue
was still below par in some states.
Governors had two weeks ago
declared that they could no longer cope with the N18, 000 minimum wage.
The pronouncement caused a stir as Nigerians kicked against it. The governors of Rivers and Edo rejected the plan.
Emerging
from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House
Abuja, on Thursday, Mr. Yari said the governors were considering the
nation’s economic situation.
“Let me make it very clear to Nigerians,
governor’s forum is not the enemy of labour in any way. Rather, we have
been working together. But what we are saying, (because not only Gov.
Wike but also my friend in the comradeship, Adams Oshiomhole, kicked
against the decision.
“What we said is that when the National
Assembly enacted the law of paying N18, 000 minimum wage, then the oil
was about $118 per barrel and today where we are oil is $41 per barrel.
“So,
if it continues like that definitely we will find it difficult to
continue. We have to sit down with the labour and see how we can review;
either continue or downsizing, or see what we are going to do.
“We
want to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so
many things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for
security, there are other things like social lives of our people and
nation as a state,” he said.
The governor said from the federation
account, some states received N400 million, N500 million while others
received N55 million.
“And there are other issues, not even the
salary, their pension is over a billion. So, how can we continue
borrowing and servicing the service aspect of our expenditure, or
overhead. How can we do that?
“We are telling the public that we are
planning to sit down with the president and his team and the state
governors as a team and the experts to come out with the way forward and
how we are going to handle the poor state of the economy in the
country.
“But what we have on ground now will not be realistic if it
continues the way it is without having other sources from the economy
and still relying on oil that is being sold for $118 dollar per barrel
and now down to $41 and think that we can continue behaving or
misbehaving the way we are doing, if there is anything like that,” he
added
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