States Őpt For Minimum Wäge Of N70,000

By Ayodele Oni

State Governors seem to have taken a stand on the new minimum wage as they are unanimous on paying a wage of N70,000.

This is as they constituted a committee, headed by Governor Hope Uzodimma, to look at all presentations and make recommendations.

The tripartite committee set up by the federal government is continuing with its meeting to agree on a specific figure.

The governors made this disclosure after a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum(NGF) held on Thursday.

The governors who reviewed the economic situation in the country said that any amount of money above N70,000 is not feasible and affordable.

Sources close to the meeting stated that “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.”