Minimum wage: Many Governors can’t afford N70,000 – Gov Yahaya
Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, says many governors cannot afford to pay the new national minimum wage of N70,000. Speaking during a meeting with organised labour, civil society organisations, and traders associations at the Government House in Gombe, Governor Yahaya emphasised that the limited […]
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya
Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, says many governors cannot afford to pay the new national minimum wage of N70,000.
Speaking during a meeting with organised labour, civil society organisations, and traders associations at the Government House in Gombe, Governor Yahaya emphasised that the limited allocation from the federation account will make it impossible to implement the new minimum wage at the state level.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Monday signed the new national minimum wage, as part of measures to curtail the proposed nationwide protest over the current economic hardship.
“It will be difficult for me to pay the N70,000 minimum wage, and I suspect many other states are in the same predicament.
“Even the previous minimum wage of N30,000 was a struggle for many state governments to implement, not to talk of the N70,000 amid the current economic situation, which makes it even more difficult,” he said.
Governor Yahaya added that Gombe has received only N2 billion out of N5 billion palliative the Federal Government released to states last year.
The governor also attributed the fuel subsidy removal, which has exacerbated the current hardship, to a decision initiated by former President Muhammadu Buhari and announced by President Bola Tinubu during his inauguration, due to its exclusion from the 2023 budget.
According to him, President Tinubu had no choice but to announce the subsidy removal, as the National Assembly was not inaugurated at the time of his swearing-in.
He, however, said the federal government is still paying the subsidy, even more than before the president announced the removal on May 29, 2023.
Governor Yahaya also urged stakeholders to collaborate and explore alternatives to protests, which he believes inevitably lead to violence and destruction.