Minimum Wage: Again, governors to meet Buhari

Governors of Nigeria’s 36 states under the auspices of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), have again resolved to meet President Muhammadu Buhari over a new national minimum wage.

This was revealed Thursday by the spokesperson of NGF, Abdulrazaque Barkindo, at the end of a meeting of the governors.

“It was a very short meeting, of course the very last one for the year, the meeting welcomed the newest governor in its midst, the Osun state governor, Adegboyega Oyetola.

“The meeting resolved to meet the president on the issue of the minimum wage which hopefully will be resolved before the end of the year. The governors are also meeting the president tomorrow (Friday) to thank him for the way he has handled the economy,” he said.

Already, we gathered that the 36 governors who are attending an extended meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the State House conference centre will meet with Mr Buhari at 12:45pm.

The NGF chairman and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, had after the group’s last meeting before yesterday’s sent a delegation to meet with Mr Buhari over the issue.

Mr Yari was accompanied to the meeting by Governors Akinwumi Ambode (Lagos), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna).

Mr Yari had told reporters at the last emergency meeting of NGF that it was impossible for the states to implement the N30,000 minimum wage required by labour unions without downsizing the workforce all over the country.

He said the only other alternative was for the federal government to accede to the review of the national revenue allocation formula.

Mr Buhari had while receiving the report of a committee headed by former Head of Service, Ama Pepple, which recommended the payment of N30,000 as new minimum wage said he would subject it to all processes after which a bill would be sent to the National Assembly for passage into law.