The governors of the 36 states of the federation have said they are committed to ensuring better wages for workers at the end of the ongoing negotiations.
The governors gave the assurance in a communique signed by Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq made available to newsmen yesterday after their virtual meeting.
They said the 37-member tripartite committee inaugurated on the National Minimum Wage was still in consultation and was yet to conclude its work.
The communique reads in part: “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as state governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.
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“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”
Recall that the organised labour on Wednesday urged the federal government to increase the minimum wage to N615,000 in line with current economic realities in the country which brought the rise in the prices of essential goods and services such as food, transportation and electricity.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo, made the demand at the Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the Workers’ Day celebration.
They asked the government to conclude the process of implementing the new national minimum wage for workers by the end of May.
They warned that failure to do so would lead to a showdown.
The NLC had on Tuesday night described the 25 and 35 per cent salary increment for different categories of public servants as “a waste of time”.
