The lingering minimum wage crisis between the Nigerian government and organized labour took another dimension as fresh negotiations on Friday hit the brick wall.
The meeting which had members of the Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage set up by government to negotiate on its behalf and labour could not arrive at a compromise as there was disagreement on an agreeable amount.
According to reports, while the government offered N62,000, up from the initial N60,000 it earlier proposed, the labour team brought down its demand to N250,000
from N494,000.
It was also gathered that state governors had declared that they could not even pay the N60,000 minimum wage which had been proposed by the Federal Government before the government later increased it by N2,000, while the Organised Private Sector, (OPS), is said to be on the side of the government.
The Nigeria Governors Forum, (NGF), had in a statement on Friday issued by its Acting Director of Media and Public Affairs, Hajiya Halimah Salihu Ahmed, titled, “The forum’s stand on the: N60,000 minimum wage not sustainable,” said:
“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) agrees 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.
“All things considered, the NGF holds that the N60,000 minimum wage proposal is not sustainable and can not fly. It will simply mean that many states will spend all their FAAC allocations on just paying salaries with nothing left for development purposes.
“In fact, a few states will end up borrowing to pay workers every month. We do not think this will be in the collective interest of the country, including workers.
“We appeal that all parties involved, especially the labour unions, consider all the socioeconomic variables and settle for an agreement that is sustainable, durable, and fair to all other segments of the society who have a legitimate claim to public resources.”