Minimum wage: Governors fail to shift ground in meeting with Buhari

The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) committee to interface with President Muhammadu Buhari on the logjam in the move to have a new minimum wage for the country met with him at the presidential villa, Abuja on Monday with no apparent resolution of the matter. 

The governors had proposed the sum of N22,500 as against the N24,000 the federal government is willing to pay even though the organised labour is demanding for N30,000. 

The governors came out of the meeting with the president not willing to talk to reporters about the meeting. 

But it was gathered that they had insisted on N22,500 being the amount the states can absorb. 

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At the meeting with the president were the Chairman of the NGF and Zamfara state governor, Abdulazeez Yari who led the committee; Lagos state governor, Akinwumi Ambode; Enugu state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and that of Kebbi state, Atiku Bagudu as well as the minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.

The NGF had in its last meeting, set up the committee to meet with President Buhari as it believed that paying more than N22,500 as minimum wage would plunge many of the states into bankruptcy.