Buhari in closed-door meeting with governors over minimum wage

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting with some state governors in his office at the State House in Abuja.

Although the agenda of the meeting was not made known to journalists, PREMIUM TIMES learnt the governors were at the villa to discuss the issue of minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

The 36 state governors had met last week and announced they would not be able to pay the N30,000 per month minimum wage being demanded by labour unions.

The governors threatened to carry out mass retrenchment if they are forced to implement the new wage.

They subsequently set up a committee to meet with Mr Buhari over the issue.

Members of the committee include governors of Lagos, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu and Kaduna states.

Also attending Monday’s meeting is the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and Governor Abdulaziz Yari, the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).

After a series of meetings by a tri-partite committee comprising labour, state and federal government officials led by a former Head of Service, Ama Pepple, the committee recommended government should increase the minimum wage to N30,000.

Mr Buhari had while receiving the report of the committee said he would subject it to all processes after which a bill would be sent to the National Assembly for passage into law.