Fresh minimum wage proposal emerged (detail)

After the rejection of N62,000 by the 36 State governors as new national minimum wage proposed by the federal government, the governors have declared not to pay anything more than N57,000.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had increased its new national minimum wage offer from N60,000 to N62,000 while the organised labour also reduced its demand from N494,000 to N250,000.

,,,,,,,,However, findings by Punch have indicated that while the Federal Government may be ready to accept N65,000 as the new minimum wage, governors and the organised private sector insist that any figure above N57,000 may not be sustainable.

,,,,,,,,,,,,”””””According to insiders, the governors’ major argument is that the states would be left with nothing for developmental projects if they accepted a minimum wage above N57,000, as they would have to pay a large chunk of their resources as wages to workers.

It should be recalled that the governors had earlier said that the previous N60,000 minimum wage proposed by the Federal Government is not sustainable and cannot fly.

However, the governors appealed to members of the tripartite committee to agree on a minimum wage that would be fair and sustainable.