There were indications Monday that the governors and the Federal Government could not reach an agreement over the exact figure for the new minimum wage.
The federal government had put forward a new minimum wage of N24,000, while Organised Labour insisted on N30,000.
At the meeting of the governors with government’s Economic Management Team, EMT, chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the governors had requested to meet Tuesday on the platform of the Nigeria`s Governors Forum, NGF, to critically analyse the memo from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, to them for them to take a common stand on the issue.
The governors said they were in support of any amount demanded by the workers as new minimum wage but expressed regrets that their main challenge was the capacity to pay.
Addressing State House correspondents at the EMT meeting, Senator Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, said deliberation at the meeting was fruitful.
Ngige said: “We held a meeting for us to bring out modalities for us to respond to the emerging problems thrown up by the National Minimum Wage Committee and we have very fruitful meeting which necessitated in governors having further meeting Tuesday.
“We will reconvene Tuesday to brief the Economic Management Team and the Vice President and we take it up from there.
”The governors will meet to take a position and brief the Economic Management Team. This meeting is only for the Tripartite Committee of the government side.”
But Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, said the meeting was for the government side to look at the bottleneck on the minimum wage with the organised labour.
He said: “The position of the governors is not very clear to some of you. We are willing to pay any amount but the issue is the capacity to pay.”
He said the meeting discussed the proposal made by organised labour and that proposed by the Federal Government, adding that “the governors still haven’t come out with any figure.”
“So by tomorrow (today), we are going to discuss with our governors on the bill by the Minister of Labour and Employment to the NGF Secretariat.
”We will digest it and come up with our own positions as governors because we are critical stakeholders on this issue.”
It was, however, gathered that the governors were not comfortable with the N24,000 proposal by the Federal Government and would likely come up with their own figure after meeting today.
A source privy to the meeting said that the governors were furious with the N24,000 when some governors were unable to pay the current N18,000.
At the EMT meeting were Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Finance and Budget and National Planning, Senator Chris Ngige, Mrs Zainab Ahmed and Udoma Udo Udoma respectively.
Others were Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of Service to the Federation, Chief Richard Egbule, the Director-General, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, and Ahmed Idris, Accountant-General of the Federation.
The governors at the meeting were the Chairman of Nigeria’s Governors Forum, and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State; Rauf Aregbesola, Osun State; and Simon Lalong of Plateau State.
Recall that Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, had briefed State House correspondents last Friday after meeting behind closed-door with President Muhammadu Buhari and announced that the Economic Management Team would meet with governors yesterday to take a position on the new minimum wage.
Although the Federal Government had insisted on N24,000 as new minimum wage, organised labour had on their own, maintained that in the last Minimum Wage Negotiation Tripartite Committee, the sum of N30,000 was agreed upon but the government objected to it, claiming there was no consensus on that.
Ngige maintained that in fixing the minimum wage, the paramount thing was the ability to pay and that government cannot force employers to pay what they cannot afford.
But the organised labour accused the government of playing games with the minimum wage and threatened to embark on nationwide strike November 6.
