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.
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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