Govs Reject FG’s 62k New Minimum Wage, Reveal Amount Payable

Information reaching the OsunReporters News confirmed that the State governors and the private sector have reportedly rejected the N62,000 new national minimum wage proposed by the federal government.

It should be recalled that the Federal Government had increased its new national minimum wage offer from N60,000 to N62,000.

On the other hand, organised labour has 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.

A source revealed that 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.

However, the negotiation for a new minimum wage is far from over as Organised Labour and the Federal Government continue to make offers and counter-offers.

,,, *””::;”A governor from the South who spoke with the aforementioned publication lamented how he would use huge amounts to pay less than 200,000 civil servants in the state, who did not constitute more than five percent of the population.

Organised Private Sector also accused the federal government of making decisions without consulting them.

“The FG has literally shaved our heads in our absence. Though we had nominal representations, they were not allowed to come back to us for proper consultation,” said a manufacturer in Lagos who craved anonymity

:::”””;;;;Also, documents seen with one of the governors who is a member of the negotiation team show the states’ precarious financial status and their inability to pay anything above the N57,000 they proposed alongside the private sector.

,,,,,One of the documents, which was released by the secretariat of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum and titled, ‘Comparative Analysis of States Gross Allocation Between Subsidy and Non-Subsidy Regimes (January – December 2023)’, showed the gross income received by states from the Federation Account