you have the possibility to publish an article related to the theme of this page, and / or to this region:
Nigeria - -An information and promotions platform.
Links the content with your website for free.
Nigeria - Web content about Minimum wage news
The Federal Government may be on a collision course with governors and the private sector for agreeing to pay a minimum wage higher than **N60,000**.
According to findings, while the Federal Government may be ready to accept **N65,000** as the new minimum wage, governors and the organised private sector were against paying as high as **N60,000**.
They insisted that any figure above **N57,000** may not be sustainable.
The major argument by the governors, according to insiders, is that the states would be left with nothing for developmental projects if they accepted to pay a minimum wage above **N57,000**, as they would have to pay a large chunk of their resources as wages to workers.
However, the negotiation for a new minimum wage is far from over as Organised Labour and the Federal Government continue to make offers and counter-offers.
Organised Labour, comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, had again rejected the offer of the Federal Government to pay **N60,000** as a new minimum wage for workers.
A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers had told The PUNCH that the Federal Government and Organised Private Sector side of the talks proposed a **N60,000** monthly minimum wage on Tuesday, as against the **N57,000** they proposed last week when the committee last met.
The government and the OPS had initially proposed **N48,000** and **N54,000** last week, which were also rejected by Organised Labour.
The organised labour had presented **N615,000** as the new minimum wage but saw reasons to drop their demand to **N497,000** last week, and then to **N494,000** on Tuesday.
The last meeting of the committee was, however, deadlocked as talks ended without an agreement on what to pay as the new minimum wage.
The labour unions said the current minimum wage of **N30,000** could no longer cater to the well-being of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors were paying the current wage award, which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described as ‘unsubstantial’, the fresh proposals by the government.
“It is still not substantial compared to what we need to get a family moving,” the labour leader had said of the current **N30,000** wage paid to workers in the country.
“The economy of the workers is totally destroyed.
In fact, the workers don’t have any economy.
I think there are two economies in the country—the economy of the bourgeoisie and the economy of the workers.
I think we have to harmonise this so that we can have a meeting point,” Ajaero had said.
The strike, which commenced on Monday, was called to protest the failure of the Federal Government to approve a new minimum wage by May 31, as well as its failure to reverse the hike in electricity tariff.
It was reported that after a six-hour meeting with the leadership of Organised Labour in Abuja on Monday night, the Federal Government expressed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to raising the **N60,000** offered as the minimum wage.
The agreement stated, “The President of Nigeria, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is committed to establishing a National Minimum Wage higher than **N60,000**; and the Tripartite Committee will convene daily for the next week to finalise an agreeable National Minimum Wage.
” Organised Labour also agreed to “immediately hold meetings of its organs to consider this new offer, and no worker would face victimisation as a consequence of participating in the industrial action.
” These resolutions were signed on behalf of the Federal Government by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.
Governors, however, accused the Federal Government of caving under labour’s pressure without critically looking at the feasibility of paying above **N60,000** for states.
A governor from the south, who is a member of the opposition, while speaking with our correspondent under anonymity, lamented how he would use huge amounts to pay less than **200,000** civil servants in the state, which did not constitute more than five percent of the population.
The anger, according to Saturday PUNCH findings, is however more among players in the Organised Private Sector.
“The FG has literally shaved our heads in our absence.
Though we had nominal representations, they were not allowed to come back to us for proper consultation,” said a manufacturer in Lagos who craved anonymity.
Though governors, local governments and Organised Private Sector are against the **N60,000**, a member of the FG negotiation team said the Federal Government was ready to keep its promise of a figure higher than **N60,000**.
“Actually, FG’s position is that we can pay as much as **N65,000**, because the President believed in a quick and amicable solution,” the member told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity.
Also, documents seen by our correspondent with one of the governors who is a member of the negotiation team show the precarious financial status of the states and their inability to pay anything above the **N57,000** they proposed alongside the private sector.
One of the documents which was released by the secretariat of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum and titled, ‘Comparative Analysis of States Gross Allocation Between Subsidy and Non-Subsidy Regimes (January–December 2023)’, showed the gross income received by states from the Federation Account.
A table in the document shows the States Gross Allocations, including revenues from Statutory Allocation, Value Added Tax, Electronic Money Transfer Levy, Exchange Gain, and Augmentations, as of when the subsidy regime was in place, and the non-subsidy regime in 2023.
Many states received more allocation in the second half of the year of the post-subsidy regime compared to when the subsidy regime was in place.
This, according to the NGF, was due to an increase in the 13 percent derivation in the first half of the year, and a reduction in the 13 percent derivation in the second half of the year.
As seen on the table, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states, were the only states that received more allocation in the first half of the year when compared to the second half of the year of the non-subsidy regime.
Meanwhile, Abia’s gross allocation before subsidy removal (January to June 2023) was **N38.
7bn**.
After subsidy, it increased by 20 percent to **N46.
30bn**.
Surprisingly, the gross allocation for Akwa Ibom reduced by 33 percent to **N125bn** from **N185bn** (before subsidy removal).
Anambra’s allocation increased by 15 percent to **N53.
603bn**.
Bauchi’s allocation also increased by 21 percent to **N53.
937bn**.
States that saw a reduction were Delta (-26 percent), Rivers (-12 percent), Bayelsa (-20 percent) and Akwa Ibom (-33 percent).
The rest saw an increase by, at least, 20 percent, except Edo (four percent); Ondo (three percent), and Anambra (15 percent).
Another document sighted by our correspondent, titled, “Analysis of State FAAC Inflows and State Expenditures Profile” from the NGF secretariat showed that some states were not viable and may not be able to afford the minimum wage proposed by Organised Labour.
According to the table, Abia’s total revenue stood at **N94bn**.
After paying salaries, the state will have a shortfall of over **N17bn**.
Ekiti, with a total allocation of **N79bn**, would have a shortfall of over **N13bn** after clearing a recurrent expenditure of **N93bn**.
Gombe would have a shortfall of **N7.
6bn** after paying a recurrent expenditure of **N82bn** from a total revenue of **N74bn**.
Imo would have a shortfall of over **N2.
2bn** after paying a recurrent expenditure of **N97bn** from its total revenue of **N95bn**.
Also, Katsina with a total revenue of **N90bn** would have a shortfall of **N15bn** after paying a recurrent expenditure of **N106.
26bn**.
Oyo State would have a shortfall of **N2.
6bn** after paying **N152bn** as recurrent expenditure from a total allocation of **N149.
4bn**.
Other states with shortfalls include Plateau (**N17.
01bn**); Sokoto (**N3.
440bn**); Yobe (**N18.
720bn**) and Zamfara (**N27.
369bn**).
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum has issued a public disclaimer in reaction to the offer by the FG which they described as “unsustainable”.
The NGF in a statement by its acting Director of Media and Public Affairs, Halimah Ahmed, expressed concerns that if the **N60,000** minimum wage was adopted, many states would allocate their entire allocations to salaries, leaving no resources for development projects.
The statement read in part “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum is in agreement that a new minimum wage is due.
The forum also sympathises with labour unions in their push for higher wages.
However, the forum urges all parties to consider the fact that the minimum wage negotiations also involve consequential adjustments across all cadres, including pensioners.
The NGF cautions parties in this important discussion to look beyond just signing a document for the sake of it; any agreement to be signed should be sustainable and realistic.
” The NGF