The Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, has warned that at least 25 states in the country will be bankrupt if they implement the new minimum wage.
The umbrella body of the 36 state governors in the country made the observation in a report, according to Punch.
The governors, who recently rejected the N62,000 new minimum wage proposed by the federal government for Nigerian workers, said some states are already in a big financial strain because of the huge recurrent expenditures which has continued to pile up.
The NGF’s position, analyst insist, will further spark fresh confrontation between the Organised Labour which is demanding higher pay for their members, and the government.
Sources in the unions informed the magazine on Monday that the state governments have the capacity to pay only if they can plug financial holes, stressing that the new wage was long overdue.
“We all know what many state governors are doing with public funds. The level of corruption in many states needed to be addressed if the governors are serious on the issue of new minimum wage. They have the capacity to even pay more than our demand for N250,000,” one of the labour leaders said.
The magazine reported the demand of N250,000 as the new minimum wage by the organsied labour in the country led by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, even though experts on the issue insist that the new wage should be around N100, 000.
The state governors insist that the financial problem facing them will get worse, if they are forced to implement the N62,000 recommended by the tripartite committee set up by the government to advise it on the issue.
The Committee include federal and state government representatives, and the private sector.
President Tinubu, had two weeks ago, announced that the federal government had put the Committee’s on hold to allow for consultations with the governors.
The governors met on the issue last week following which they issued the report, the newspaper said.
According to the report, the current financial strain already left 11 states in a very difficult position. The states are Abia, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, Kogi, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara.
The new minimum wage will increase states’ recurrent expenditure by 50 percent, according to the report, adding that only 10 states will be able to remain financial stable after they have paid the N62,000 minimum wage.
The states are Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Lagos, and Rivers.
According to the documents, sighted by The PUNCH, Abia, with an employment size of about 58,631 workers, pays N5,837,899,980.40 as wage monthly. Anambra has a 20,541 employment size and pays N1,824,851,308.96 monthly as wages, apart from N894,480,399.62 as pension obligation and N579,694,680.33 for debt servicing.
Bayelsa boasts of 48,213 workforce, paying N5,802,435,178.58 monthly, with N1,194,528,784.40 as pension obligation and N3,535,787,992.48 as debt servicing, totalling N10,532,751,955.46 as total recurrent expenditure monthly.
Benue has about 13,366 workers in its workforce and pays N2,040,184,471.85 as monthly wage, N76,838,634.62 for pension, and N64,685,126,826.08 for debt servicing, totalling N66,802,149,932.56 monthly.
Delta has about 50,871 workers, offering N8,973,081,853.50 as wages, N1,499,886,303.39 as pension, and N72,417,433,139.00 as debt servicing, accumulating to N82,890,401,295.89 in a month.
Jigawa has about 44,831 workers in its employ and pays N2,795,662,113.02 as wages, and N345,987,843.12 as a pension, totalling N3,141,649,956.14 monthly on recurrent expenditure.
Katsina, Kwara and Niger have 19,062, 36,048 and 22,225 workers, with accumulated N139,294,944,565.27, N4,457,268,675.54 and N2,653,614,213.35 monthly recurrent expenditure respectively.
The report further stated that, Abia has a total recurrent expenditure of N111,983,979,958.62, against a total revenue of N147,637,730,867.73.
For Adamawa, the recurrent expenditure stands at N70,369,399,885.57, against a total revenue of N109,722,949,684.65, while Akwa Ibom boasts of a high revenue of N444,288,683,000, with recurrent expenditure of N235,144,539,000.
Of the states, Lagos has the highest total revenue, amassing N1,243,778,878,170 in 2022, with a recurrent expenditure of N621,043,036,000, followed by Delta, with N702,020,717,460.08 and a recurrent expenditure of N377,905,100,451.83.
Rivers amassed N525,588,159,714.88 in 2022, with recurrent expenditure of N186,974,715,774.87; Kaduna had a total revenue of N222,349,875,000 and expenditure of N95,987,999,472.10; Ogun, N297,249,009,626.83, recurrent expenditure of N178,519,010,628.42 and Oyo, with total revenue of N247,156,776,739.70 and recurrent expenditure of N152,077,804,384.65.
Meanwhile, the NLC and TUC have warned that state governors would not be allowed to determine the new minimum wage without consultation with the organized labour in the country.
