We Can No Pay N18,000 Minimum Wage - Governors

                  

The State Governors  after a meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum said they can no longer pay the Minimum wage of N18,000.
This decision was  one of the outcome of the governor meeting held on Wednesday inside the Old banquet hall of the Presidential Villa which ended early hours of Thursday.
According to the Governor the minimum wage was imposed on them when oil was selling for $126 as against $41 of today.
Chairman of the Forum Abdul Aziz of Zamfara State said diversification of the Economy is the only way out.


 “We resolved that we must look at ways to enhance revenue generation and at the same time look at ways to cut our overhead costs, more especially the political office holders’ salaries and other overhead expenses.
“The situation is no longer the same compared to when we were asked to pay N18,000 minimum wage, when oil price was $126 (per barrel) and continued paying N18,000 minimum wage when the oil is $41, and the source of government expenditure is oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil industry in the near future.”
“We will diversify our economy in the area of agriculture and mining. But at the same time, we should understand our situation where some of us (states) today are taking N100m home (monthly allocation) and we have salaries of over N2bn to pay.
“We, therefore, agreed here to take this suggestion to NEC in our meeting on Thursday so that we can be able to find ways to tackle this problem.
And we are looking at coming together to discuss with Mr. President and his team – with governors, technocrats and experts in the economy – to see how we can tackle our troubled situation. We are working harder to deal with it.” Yari Said