We won’t backtrack on minimum wage payment – Governors

Governors of the 36 states of the federation have assured that they will not move away from the agreement to pay the new national minimum wage of N30,000.

They, however, insisted that the states cannot pay their workers in the same way.

Speaking at the end of its meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) on Wednesday night, the chairman and governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said while some states can pay up to N50,000, none will pay less than N30,000.

Asked to speak on the decision reached on the matter, he said: “Minimum wage is not on our agenda because it a settled matter and governors have all indicated without any equivocation that we subscribe to the act of Parliament that has been passed on the 30,000 minimum wage.

“There is no debate. We have accepted that.

“The negotiation team you are talking about is about the consequential impact and each state has started that process.

If the NLC is not fully aware of the status of the negotiations in the various state, we will be happy to share the information with us with them.

“But as far as we are concerned, no opportunity or decision in the NGF to back-tracking from the minimum wage.

“However, fingers are not equal, states have to negotiate in terms of the consequential implementation. There may be states that are in a position to N50,000. What we can tell you is that no state we pay less than N30,000 when we finally get to that point.”

Fayemi also read a communique issued at the end of the meeting, in which it deliberations were outlined.

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The communique read: “We, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at our meeting held today at the NGF Secretariat Abuja, deliberated on several issues and resolved as follows:

“The Forum received an update from the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) and the World Bank team on the State Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) on the Independent Verification Assessment (IVA) exercise conducted across states.

The Independent Verification Assessment (IVA) team highlighted among others, activities of the FY2018 Annual Appraisal Assessment to be concluded in January 2020 while the transfer of 2018 grants to States will take place in March 2020.

“As SFTAS implementing partner, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat will carry out regional sensitization workshops in March 2020 and kick start the provision of technical assistance to States through customized just-in,-time

advisory and training, exchange visits and peer learning events.

“The Forum received an update on the health priorities of the Forum especially Universal Healthcare, Nutrition and on the Polio Eradication Initiative, including the Seattle Declaration. Governors reiterated their commitment to effective implementation and tracking of the Seattle commitment.

“The Forum received a briefing on the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 from the UK Foreign Office led by Mrs Harriet Thompson, the UK Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria. The summit will be hosted by the UK Prime Minister and will bring together businesses, governments and international institutions to showcase investment opportunities in Africa in January 2020.

“Members expressed optimism for deeper opportunities in various sectors of the economy including agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, health, education and financial services; and committed to strengthening the Forum’s partnership with the UK’s CDC Group and the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) to help bridge relations between Nigerian and UK companies.

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“The Forum received a delegation of the Conference of Speakers of the State House of Assembly and had fruitful discussions, on some constitutional matters.

“The Forum received a presentation from the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, on the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) programme in Nigeria – a programme designed to strengthen the application of geospatial data for evidence-based decision making in the county. The National Coordinator of GRID3, Inuwa Yau, also highlighted several applications of the programme in priority areas of government including food security, health coverage, financial inclusion, survey and demographics and education.

“Finally, State governors commended the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Flaming for coordinating the GRID3 programme which will be central to development-planning going forward. Members pledged to work with the Ministry, by providing the right institutional arrangements in all States to ensure that each State supports the generation and management of geospatial data. “This will ensure that State governments have the right information in identifying where people live and how critical services can be most equitably and effectively allocated.”