REVEALED: Only way Nigerian states can pay minimum wage

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering governance and public journalism.

Ado Ekiti - Ekiti state - Biodun Oyebanji, the governor of Ekiti, has said only an increased allocation can enable state governments to pay the new minimum wage.

Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, July 3, during the 7th quadrennial delegates’ conference of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Oyebanji stated that each state was interested in determining what it could afford so that it would not end up laying off staff.

Several months after negotiations, an agreement on what to pay as a new minimum wage in Nigeria has not been reached. Photo credit: @biodunaoyebanji
Source: Twitter

The Punch noted Oyebanji's stance.

The Ekiti governor said:

“No governor wants to retrench, if there is a minimum wage today without a concurrent increment in what we are earning, no state can pay.“That is the conversation we are having – that, look, we want to give you a living wage, but we must look at what comes to the states and whatever is in the best interest of the states and the workers, we will do."

Recently, the organised labour has been demanding an increase in minimum wage of N30,000 owing to the rising inflation that has pushed food prices up.

While the federal government has offered to pay N62,000, labour unions have insisted on N250,000.

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Tinubu sent fresh message on new minimum wage

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Akeem Ambali, the national treasurer of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), urged President Bola Tinubu to go ahead and recommend the new minimum wage to the national assembly after consultation with organised labour on the agreement.

The NLC official advised Tinubu to “concentrate his energy on engaging labour with realistic data and statistics”.

Source: Legit.ng