Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum calling for re-negotiation of minimum wage due to Nigeria's poorer state of economy

The governor of Zamfara State and current chairman of  the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Abdulaziz Yari yesterday said governors, the Presidency and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) should re-negotiate the 18,000 minimum wage.

His premise was Nigeria as a country has always been heavily dependent on it's oil revenue and due to that the reduction in oil prices per barrel in recent years it has made it difficult for states to balance their budgets and worse yet leaving some states biting off more than they can chew in terms of balancing State overhead cost with state budget. This has lead to his insistence on States to renegotiate minimum wage, which is currently N18,000 to fit with the economic times.

He goes on to say,“What we said is that when the National Assembly enacted the law of paying N18,000 minimum wage, oil was about $118 per barrel and today oil is sold for $41 per barrel.

“So, if it continues, definitely, we will find it difficult to continue. We have to sit down with labour and see how we can review, either continue or downsizing or what we are going to do. We want to find a solution because we have to be realistic that we have so many things to touch. There is infrastructure deficit, there is need for security, there are other things, such as social lives of our people and the nation as a state.

“The receipt from federation account, some people received N400 million, N500 million. Some others received N55 million, two digits. And there are other issues.  Not even the salary, their pension is over a billion. So, how can we continue borrowing and servicing the service aspect of our expenditure, or overhead? How can we do that?

“We are telling the public that we are planning to sit down with the President and his team and the governors as a team and the experts to come out with the way forward and how we are going to handle the poor state of the economy.

He also goes on to say about those opposing his views, "I can understand why the governor of Rivers state is speaking the way he is speaking. He thinks every place is Rivers. It is not.”